By Alexander Miller, consultant in emerging market, for Eurasia Business News, February 26, 2023

US Treasury building in Washington D.C., United States. Photo credit : Eurasia Business News.

U.S. Treasury designated on February 24 the following Russian banks pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy:

  • Credit Bank of Moscow Public Joint Stock Company, one of Russia’s ten largest banks by asset value and located in Moscow, is Russia’s largest non-state public bank. The European Union removed Credit Bank of Moscow from the SWIFT international payment system in June 2022 and fully blocked the bank in December 2022. OFAC previously placed Credit Bank of Moscow on the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List. It is now also subject to full-blocking sanctions.
  • Joint Stock Company Commercial Bank Lanta Bank, a bank located in Moscow, Russia.
  • Public Joint Stock Company Commercial Bank Metallurgical Investment Bank (Metallinvestbank), a bank located in Moscow, Russia. Metallinvestbank has used alternative payment routes to facilitate the receipt of payments for Russian exports.
  • Public Joint Stock Company MTS Bank, a bank located in Moscow, Russia and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The UK also designated this bank today.
  • Novosibirsk Social Commercial Bank Levoberezhny Public Joint Company, a bank located in Novosibirsk, Russia.
  • Bank Saint-Petersburg Public Joint Stock Company, a bank located in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The UK also designated this bank today.
  • Joint Stock Commercial Bank Primorye, a bank located in Vladivostok, Russia.
  • SDM-Bank Public Joint Stock Company, a bank located in Moscow, Russia.
  • Public Joint Stock Company Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD), a bank located in Yekaterinburg, Russia. UBRD is also sanctioned by Canada and the UK.
  • Public Joint Stock Company Bank Uralsib, a bank located in Moscow, Russia. The UK also designated this bank on its sanctions list on February 24.
  • Bank Zenit Public Joint Stock Company, a bank located in Moscow, Russia. The UK also designated this bank on its sanctions list on February 24.

Additionally, Russia-based financial institutions OOO Zenit Finance, OOO Zenit Leasing, and OOO Zenit Factoring MSP were designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Bank Zenit.

In conjunction with this action, OFAC has issued Russia-related General License (GL) 60, authorizing the wind down and rejection of transactions involving certain financial institutions designated on February 24 through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, May 25, 2023. In addition, OFAC has issued Russia-related GL 61, authorizing the wind down of certain securities and derivatives transactions involving certain of these financial institutions through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, May 25, 2023. OFAC also issued amended GL 8F, adding certain of these financial institutions to the authorization to process certain energy-related transactions.

The U.S. government adopted sanctions against foreign financial entities and wealth-management advisors, accused in helping the Russian economy to avoid the impact of Western sanctions.

OFAC Targets Russian Wealth Management-Related Entities

U.S. Treasury targets CONFIDERI Pte Ltd (CONFIDERI, which is a Russian multi-family office, a financial services firm specializing in high-net-worth individuals, with offices in Moscow and Singapore. Its specialties include asset structuring and wealth management, including on “international projects with Russian roots.” CONFIDERI offers, among other services, PMSJ investment opportunities and investment management through the Caribbean.

According to OFAC, the CONFIDERI’s founders, Russian Federation-Israel nationals Olga Borisovna Raykes and Marat Maratovich Savelov, have also been recognized as private bankers, wealth managers, and investment advisers. Raykes and Savelov own the firm Vend Ore GmbH (Vend Ore), located in Vienna, Austria.

CONFIDERI, Raykes, and Savelov have been designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy. Vend Ore GmbH  was designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Raykes and Savelov.

In addition, the Moscow-based investment and wealth management firm IC Veles Capital LLC (IC Veles Capital) also caters to Russian high-net-worth individuals. Its leaders are Russian Federation-Cyprus nationals Dmitry Vitalyevich Bugayenko (Bugayenko) and Aleksei Dmitrievich Gnedovskii (Gnedovskii).

IC Veles Capital, Bugayenko, Gnedovskii, and related financial companies Veles Aktiv OOO, Veles Management Ltd, and Limited Liability Company Veles Trust were all designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy.

Read also : How will Russia respond to Western sanctions ?

Additionally, Bugayenko’s Cyprus-based firms Veles International Limited and Hadlerco Limited, were designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Bugayenko.

Russian Federation national Ulan Vladimirovich Ilishkin (Ilishkin) is Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of U.S.-sanctioned Public Joint Stock Company Rosbank (Rosbank), which was acquired in 2022 by one of Russia’s richest men, U.S.-sanctioned Vladimir Potanin. Ilishkin also leads Rosbank’s L’Hermitage Private Banking unit.

Russian Federation national Alina Olegovna Nazarova (Nazarova) is the head of A-Club, the private banking department of U.S.-sanctioned Joint Stock Company Alfa-Bank.

Russian Federation national Evgeniya Sergeyevna Tyurikova (Tyurikova) is a long-time finance professional who leads the private banking department of U.S.-sanctioned Public Joint Stock Company Sberbank of Russia (Sberbank).

Ilishkin, Nazarova, and Tyurikova were designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy.

Read also : U.S. Treasury Imposed Sanctions on Members of Russian Duma and Sberbank CEO

Russia launched a military operation in the morning of February 24, with the official goal to “demilitarize Ukraine”, remove the Ukrainian government and protect the right of Russians living in Donbass, Eastern Ukraine. In a televised address to Russian citizens, President Vladimir Putin stated that circumstances “require decisive and immediate action from us, the people’s republics of Donbass  have asked for help.” 

The Kremlin continues voicing that Moscow’s plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. The Russian goals would be “demilitarization and denazification” of the country.

Ukraine and its Western partners sees the Russian military operation as an invasion and imposed strong strong sanctions against Russian state officials, banks, companies, oligarchs and businessmen to put pressure on the Russian government and lead it to a ceasefire and a total withdrawal from Ukraine’s territory.

The permanent representatives of European Union member states have agreed on February 24 a 10th package of sanctions against Russia over its military operation in Ukraine, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU announced on Friday evening. The new sanctions package was published on the EU’s Official Journal on February 25.

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