This is very good news, if not unexpected, for Russia’s economy – thanks to a rise in the value of the euro and greater efforts by commercial banks to make foreign currency deposits, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by a record $15.4 billion in the last week.  That’s a record.

But this isn’t a coincidence, according to the Reuters:

Russian authorities told commercial banks not to increase their foreign currency positions or risk losing their access to the central bank’s liquidity through collateral-free auctions.

Instead, the central bank gave banks a possibility to park their foreign currency in interest-free accounts with the central bank. Ulyukayev said “several billion” were currently held in these accounts.

Commercial banks’ accounts in the central bank are matched by corresponding foreign currency positions in the central bank’s assets, which count as part of the international reserves.