The US Treasury Department announced that it was imposing sanctions against Gazprombank. This is one of the largest Russian banks, which stood out, in particular, because it accepted payments from European countries for Russian gas supplies and maintained access to the SWIFT system, from which many other Russian financial institutions are cut off.
Some American restrictions have affected it before, but the new sanctions completely cut it off from the dollar system.
Gazprombank's subsidiary banks in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Cyprus, Hong Kong and South Africa will also be subject to sanctions.
In addition, the US Treasury issued a warning to the banking sector around the world that connecting to the Russian Financial Message Transmission System (SPFS), with which Moscow is trying to replace SWIFT, will also create risks of US sanctions for banks. Banks, especially large ones, are known for being attentive to the requirements of US regulators and therefore complying with sanctions, even in countries such as China and South Africa, whose political leadership is not seeking confrontation with Russia.
In addition, sanctions targeted more than 50 small and medium-sized Russian banks that maintained access to the global market, and more than 40 small Russian depositories that were allegedly used to circumvent sanctions after sanctions were imposed against the National Settlement Depository.
Several executives of the Russian Central Bank and subsidiary banks of Sberbank and VTB in China and India were subject to personal sanctions
