Övünç Kutlu
25 February 2022•Update: 25 February 2022
ANKARA
The US Treasury Department announced Thursday an additional set of sanctions on Russian financial institutions, entities, elites, as well as actions targeting Belarus.
Russia’s two largest financial institutions, Public Joint Stock Company Sberbank of Russia, known as Sberbank, and VTB Bank Public Joint Stock Company, known as VTB Bank, are cut off from the global financial system.
The two banks, which combined make up more than half of the total banking system in Russia by asset value, are cut off from processing payments through the US financial system, the agency said in a statement.
Russian financial institutions conduct $46 billion worth of foreign exchange transactions globally on a daily basis -- 80% are in US dollars, it noted.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has also imposed sanctions on three additional major Russian financial institutions -- Otkritie, Novikom, and Sovcom -- holding combined assets worth $80 billion.
"These designations further restrict the Russian financial services sector and greatly diminish the ability of other critical Russian economic sectors from accessing global markets, attracting investment, and utilizing the US dollar," said the statement.
In addition, 12 Otkritie and 22 Sovcombank subsidiaries are on the sanctions list, while Novikombank’s parent company, Rostec, remains subject to certain debt-related restrictions, it added.
Moreover, 12 other financial institutions are added to the list, which have connections with Russian natural gas company Gazprom, oil pipeline firm Transneft, as well as companies operating in agriculture, telecommunications, railroads, maritime and freight shipping, energy and mining.
The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on families that are close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Some of the 10 individuals include Igor Sechin, CEO of oil company Rosneft, and high-ranking executives of Sberbank and VTB Bank.
OFAC, in addition, imposed sanctions on 24 Belarusian individuals and entities because of Belarus’s support for a Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
"Today’s action focuses on Belarus’s defense sector and financial institutions, two areas in which Belarus has especially close ties to Russia," it said in a separate statement.
"Belarus has become increasingly reliant on Russia for economic, political, and military support in recent years as the regime has clung to power following the fraudulent August 2020 presidential election," it added.
