At the end of January, Russia held foreign currency reserves worth $469bn. This hoard was born of the prudence taught by its 1998 default and, hoped Vladimir Putin, also a guarantee of its financial independence. But, as his “special military operation” in Ukraine began, he learnt that more than half of his reserves were frozen. His enemies’ currencies ceased to be usable money. This action is not only significant for Russia. A targeted demonetisation of the world’s most globalised currencies has big implications.
1月底,俄羅斯持有價值4690億美元的外匯儲備。這一儲備源于1998年俄羅斯債務(wù)違約后學會的謹慎,同時弗拉基米爾?普京(Vladimir Putin)希望,它能保證俄羅斯的金融獨立。但是,當他在烏克蘭的“特別軍事行動”開始時,他得知他一半以上的外匯儲備被凍結(jié)了。他的敵人的貨幣不再是可用的貨幣。這一凍結(jié)行動不僅對俄羅斯影響重大。世界上最具全球性的貨幣有針對性地失去流通性,將產(chǎn)生重大影響。