The newspaper did not specify what exactly the tightening would be. Since the end of February, Sberbank has been on the CAPTA sanctions list, which involves closing the bank’s accounts and refusing transactions
The United States plans to tighten sanctions against the Russian banking sector, in particular against Sberbank, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources.
The newspaper clarifies that Washington’s initial sanctions affected banks, collectively representing 80% of the assets of the Russian banking sector, but less stringent restrictions on some financial organizations “left the Russian markets and economy a way to connect with the global financial system”.
Sberbank came under US sanctions immediately after the start of the Russian operation in Ukraine. The bank was added to the CAPTA list, which implies restrictions on correspondent accounts in the United States and the refusal of the American financial system from any transactions coming from Sberbank. This also applied to 25 of its subsidiaries.
At the same time, the bank was not included in the SDN sanctions list, which implies stricter restrictions: blocking of the bank’s assets in the US jurisdiction and accounts in dollars and actual isolation from the dollar system. Sberbank declined to comment.
VTB banks, Otkritie, Novikombank and Sovcombank also contributed to SDN at that time. The WSJ wrote in its publication on April 5 that tougher sanctions are also planned against VTB and some other banks.
According to Reuters and Bloomberg, the US will announce a new package of sanctions on April 6. The agencies reported that restrictions will be imposed against several Russian officials and their family members, a number of state-owned enterprises and financial institutions. In addition, Washington intends to impose a ban on all investments in Russia, they specified.
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The United States imposed sanctions against Russia in several packages. In addition to restrictions on banks, sectoral sanctions have been strengthened, new export restrictions have been introduced, and the import of certain goods from Russia, including vodka, seafood and diamonds, has been banned. Companies engaged in developments in the field of radio electronics and radio engineering were included in the sanctions lists, officials, businessmen, top managers fell under personal sanctions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Western sanctions illegal and said that the country intends to work with Iran and China to find ways to circumvent them. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev noted that sanctions will return to Western countries like a boomerang, without achieving results. According to him, because of the restrictions against Russia, the world economy is also suffering.
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