A number of western sanctions have hit the Russian currency and the Russian people very hard. The country's central bank has doubled key interest rates to 20 percent in order to halt the fall in the value of the Ruble. Long queues can be seen at ATMs across Russia as people fear breakdown of electronic banking. There is a ban on transferring foreign currency abroad. The country has made it mandatory for exporters to exchange 80 percent of their foreign currency proceeds for Rubles.

UAE has been added to the grey list for 'strategic deficiencies' in countering money laundering in the country. Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, Yemen are some of the other countries on the list.

UPL is attracting takeover interest from global rivals, according to media reports.

Shell has pledged to donate the profits from sale of Russian oil to the cause of Ukraine, and Elon Musk's Starlink satellite broadband service has been activated in the war-torn country, among many other humanitarian efforts by top Western corporates.