Andriy Pyshnyy, the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, called the 18th package of sanctions against Russia particularly significant for its financial sector.
He wrote about this on Facebook, according to Ukrinform.
According to Pyshnyy, the new package is a comprehensive blow to the Russian financial sector. It includes sanctions such as a ban on transactions with 22 Russian financial institutions, including large banks, medium-sized banks, and specialized banks; a ban on transactions with financial institutions, crypto asset service providers, and individuals who help circumvent restrictions on Russian oil (in particular, two large regional Chinese banks were included in the sanctions list under the first criterion).
He also noted that the EU has strengthened the ban on transactions with institutions that use/are connected to SPFS (the Russian equivalent of SWIFT) and introduced a new ban on transactions with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the country’s largest sovereign investment fund, as well as its sub-funds and companies.
According to the Governor of the National Bank, such a comprehensive approach significantly strengthens the isolation of the Russian banking system.
“While Russian banks disconnected from the SWIFT system have so far been able to use alternative methods for exchanging financial messages, the updated sanctions effectively make international transactions impossible for certain Russian banks,” he said.
The new sanctions also restricted the development of the IT infrastructure of the Russian financial sector, which should lead to a decrease in the cyber security of financial institutions in the neighboring country and encourage the sector to accelerate the search for Russian IT solutions, which are often inferior to foreign counterparts or do not exist at all.
“The ban on transactions with the Russian Direct Investment Fund is also a strong signal to private and public investors around the world to avoid any interaction with funds associated with Russia,” Pyshnyy added.
He noted that the decision, as well as the parallel strengthening of the sanctions program against the Republic of Belarus, is very significant and eloquent, and promised that the NBU would continue to work hard with its partners to expand sanctions against the aggressor state and its allies.
As reported by Ukrinform, the European Union has approved the 18th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, “one of the toughest” to date. In particular, the EU is lowering the “price cap” on Russian crude oil from $60 to $47.6 per barrel.
