The Russian government said on Sunday it has increased its reserve fund used for emergency spending by 273.4 billion roubles ($3.52 billion) to ensure economic stability against the backdrop of Western sanctions on Ukraine. The sanctions, imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what Moscow describes as a “special military operation”, cut Russia off from the global financial system and supply channels. Western nations are also moving closer to a complete ban on energy from Moscow to strip the Kremlin of its biggest source of revenue. The government has already pledged more than 1 trillion roubles in anti-crisis support to businesses, social payments and to families with children, which will take up all of this year’s incoming revenues, so there will be no budget surplus. read more […]