Russian bonds are safe from sanctions. Based on the opinion of the Treasury Department, sanctioning the purchase of Russian sovereign debt would lead to economic upheaval, and trigger a sell-off of Russian bonds in the U.S. and probably Europe. Any threat of penalties could trigger a sell-off, even if the sanctions were not retroactive, meaning they did not punish investors who bought Russian bonds prior to the sanctions rule. See: Washington Think Tanks Fail To Deliver Russian Sanctions Smackdown -- ForbesWho Profits From The Broken Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal? That fund has outperformed the benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets Index year-to-date, as investors bet Team Trump refrain from sanctioning Russian stocks.

Source: Forbes February 02, 2018 19:23 UTC