MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. Russia has a "safety cushion" in assets that are not under sanctions and reserves are formed based on the assets that cannot be used for sanctions pressure, Governor of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina said on Tuesday.

"We can now relax because our country has a ‘safety cushion’ in assets that are not sanctioned. At the same time, let’s imagine that the flaws of the global financial system ‘catch up’ with us faster than geopolitical events. If we didn't have foreign exchange reserves, we couldn't have cushioned the blow to our economy. We are now forming reserves based on what assets cannot be used for sanctions pressure and how our foreign trade is changing," she said, adding that work on returning the Bank of Russia's frozen reserves in dollars and euros is in progress.

Following the onset of Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine Western countries slapped sanctions against the Bank of Russia. Apart from freezing Russia’s gold and foreign currency reserves, all transactions related to management of the regulator’s reserves and assets, as well as transactions with any legal entity, organization or body acting on behalf or at the direction of the Central Bank, were prohibited.