According to the Financial Times, the US has put sanctions on Gazprombank, one of the few major lenders that has not previously been blacklisted in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, in an effort to limit the Kremlin’s capacity to finance the war effort.
The US sanctions will eliminate one of Russia’s few remaining foreign banking channels by prohibiting Gazprombank from transacting in dollars.
Washington is also attempting to prevent international banks from doing business with Russia by threatening secondary sanctions on any who handle transactions for Russia’s war program.
As part of that effort, the US cautioned third-country banks that signing up to Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages, a Kremlin-backed alternative to the Swift banking communications system, may result in sanctions.
The Treasury stated that joining the Russian payments system was a “red flag” and that it was ready to more aggressively target international financial institutions that took such action.
The West must keep tightening the sanction regime against barbaric aggressor.
