Putin and Trump had an important telephone conversation last night. The parties agreed to stop attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days and to conduct a mutual exchange of 175 prisoners. Russia will also hand over more than 20 seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers. The leaders of the Russian Federation and the United States agreed to work on improving relations between the countries and global security. The next round of negotiations between the United States and Russia will be held on March 23 in Jeddah. This was announced by Trump's special representative Witkoff. He noted that the main topic of the talks would be the details of the ceasefire agreements with Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive in Saudi Arabia from the United States. The Bank of Russia is likely to keep the rate at 21%. This opinion is shared by experts from many banks and brokers: Alfa-Bank, BCS World of Investments, Finam, VTB, SberCIB, Promsvyazbank. The general opinion of the market is that monetary conditions are already quite tough. The United States may abandon the NATO command, which has been exclusively American since 1951. The Trump administration is considering such a decision with a view to a possible restructuring of combat commands that will help the Department of Defense reduce costs. The Turkish lira collapsed to a historic low (41.1 lira per dollar) after the detention of the opposition leader. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was detained on the morning of March 19 in a corruption case. The day before, the authorities annulled his university degree, which, according to Turkish law, will not allow him to participate in the presidential elections scheduled for 2028.
