Australian dollar fell against most major rivals on Tuesday following an expected decision on interest rates.
Otherwise, the EU imposed new restrictions on Russian banks from using the Swift international payments system and other limitations on the Russian central bank, while closing European airspace against Russian airplanes.
Tensions increased further after Russian President Putin announced putting the nuclear arsenal at the ready in response to the sanctions.
Conversely, Russian President Putin prevented western residents in Russia from transferring money outside, and banned western aeroplanes from Russian air space.
The Reserve Bank of Australia decided to maintain rates at 0.10% unchanged just as expected.
AUD/USD shed 0.1% to 0.7253 as of 17:57 GMT.