Thieves used to sell their illicitly obtained vehicles in Ukraine and the Baltic countries before borders closed, an insurance lobby says The number of car thefts in Russia dropped sharply in 2023, largely due to the Ukraine conflict, the business daily Kommersant reported on this week, citing data from the Internal Affairs Ministry and the…

The country’s holdings rose by more than $5 billion over a two-week period, official data shows Russia has continued to boost its foreign currency reserves, which reached $598.5 billion as of January 5, according to the country’s central bank. This represents an increase of $5.1 billion in the two-week period since December 22.

Discussions about outright seizure of Moscow’s withheld assets have recently become more frequent in Western capitals Russia is preparing to mount a legal battle to prevent its reserves frozen in the West from being seized, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. An estimated $300 billion worth of Russian assets were frozen last March as part of…