What happens if Russia defaults? Here is what Economists say newsweek.com

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There is growing real risk that Russia could default on its national debt as the U.S. tightens economic sanctions on President Vladimir Putin’s government amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department stopped Russia from paying its bondholders more than $600 million from reserves the country holds in U.S.-based banks in a move that could force Russia to dip into dollar assets held at home or try to service its debt in rubles.

The Treasury had frozen the Central Bank of Russia’s access to around $300 billion of the country’s total reserves of about $640 billion but had been allowing the Russian government to use U.S.-held reserves to make coupon payments on dollar-denominated debt on a case-by-case basis.

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