United States imposes sanctions on last major Russian bank connected to SWIFT

(MENAFN) Washington has sanctioned dozens of Russian financial organizations, such as Gazprombank and six of its global branches, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) declared on Thursday. Russia’s third-greatest lender and primary bank for energy-relevant transactions, Gazprombank was the final main Russian bank that had taken access to the SWIFT interbank messaging system.

The UK and Canada forced sanctions on Gazprombank shortly following the escalation of the Ukraine war in 2022, but the US had earlier prevented following suit as the bank was used by EU states to pay for Russian gas. Clarifying its conclusion to place regulations on the bank now,

OFAC assumed that Moscow was consuming Gazprombank as a “conduit to purchase military materiel.” The new measures mean the bank can no longer carry out any new transactions that include the dollar-based financial system. Its properties in the US have also been frozen.

OFAC said that it had distributed new general licenses authorizing US citizens to continue transactions including Gazprombank so as to gradually wind down collaboration with it. The certificates are also going to allow for continuous diplomatic banking activities including Gazprombank, In addition to transactions relevant to agricultural commodities and medicine.

MENAFN24112024000045016755ID1108920069