We’ve confirmed that some people are having difficulty accessing the Google News app and website in Russia and that this is not due to any technical issues on our end, Reuters quoted Google as saying.

It was also noted that a lot of foreign trade enterprises that suspended their activities in Russia did not submit applications for a complete withdrawal from the Russian market.

On March 15, the EU announced a ban on providing credit ratings to legal persons, entities, or bodies established in Russia.

Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov noted that expectations that "everything will fall into pieces" are not true.

Moving forward, in its key rate decision-making the regulator will take into account actual and expected inflation movements, as well as risks posed by domestic and external conditions and the reaction of financial markets.

The United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, France and the European Commission agreed to impose new "tough financial sanctions" on Russia.

Saudi Arabia already wants to trade in yuan, not in dollars, Sergey Lavrov noted.

The grain ban covers wheat and maslin, rye, barley and corn.

The measure will be in effect until December 31, 2022.

"The impact of the sanctions is quite severe for the Russian economy," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.