(Reuters) – Russia’s central bank has announced a series of measures to help domestic markets on Sunday, amid heightened Western sanctions and Moscow’s incursion into Ukraine.

According to the central bank, it plans to buy gold again on the domestic marketplace and launch a repurchase sale with no limits. It also intends to relax controls on foreign currency open positions by banks. The central bank also expanded the number of securities that could be used to secure loans, and directed market participants to decline foreign bids for Russian securities.

Reuters reached out to the bank for comments but they did not respond.

These steps were taken after Western allies increased sanctions, which included blocking banks from SWIFT’s international payment system. They also targeted the Russian central bank. The Russian central bank committed to taking restrictive measures to prevent it from using its international reserves in order to weaken sanctions.

These sanctions would likely cause a severe economic blow to Russia and prevent Russian companies and banks from accessing the international financial systems. On Monday, the rouble fell to an all time low of 30% against the dollar.

Russians were worried about new Western sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, which could lead to cash shortages or disrupt payments. They waited outside ATMs in queues all day on Sunday.

The reputational damage of the conflict in Ukraine has led to several European Sberbank Russia subsidiaries failing, or very likely to fail, according to the European Central Bank (the supervisor of lenders) on Monday.

In a series of announcements, the Russia Central Bank sought financial stability in a number of statements made Sunday. The Russian Central Bank stated that it will resume purchasing gold domestically starting February 28.

According to a document from the central bank that was seen by Reuters, market participants were also instructed by the bank to refuse foreign client attempts to sell Russian securities.

In a bid to inject cash into the financial system, it said there would be no limit at a “fine-tuning” repo auction it plans to hold on Monday and added that the banking system remained stable after a raft of new sanctions targeting Russia’s financial institutions.

It stated that bank cards worked as expected and that funds of customers could be accessed anytime. The central bank stated that it will significantly increase the number of securities that are eligible to be used as collateral for loans from its central bank.

It also stated that the restrictions placed on foreign-currency positions by banks are being temporarily lifted following the sanction. It stated that the measure will allow banks in “external situations” to maintain positions higher than official limits until July 1.

According to the central bank, it will continue monitoring changes in currencies “in order guarantee normal functioning of money and currency markets as well as the financial stability lending institutions”.