The expert spoke about the blocking of Russian accounts in foreign banks.

Bespalov believes that general protection against user location tracking cannot be considered a 100% reliable tool, since other methods can be used to determine that the client is located in Russia, and in theory banks have such technical capabilities;

“But will banks take advantage of this? Big question. Therefore, if it is necessary to use bank accounts from hostile countries on the territory of the Russian Federation, we recommend hiding IP addresses,” says Bespalov.

The expert added that the service rules of a particular bank may directly state that it does not work with clients physically located in Russia, i.e. people whose center of life is Russia. If a client, when opening an account, confirmed a residence permit and an address in another country, but at the same time repeatedly accessed the Internet bank or mobile application from Russia, this may lead to a blocking.

“Then you can argue with them, proving, even with the help of a lawyer, that you do not live in Russia, but have simply been there for some time. But in fact, those banks that fundamentally do not work with clients from Russia can block accounts for this reason. There were precedents of this kind before, but now there are more,” Bespalov said.

In August, RBC, citing lawyers, reported that banks in the United States were blocking clients’ accounts when they tried to make transactions from Russia, identifying residents by their IP address. According to Dmitry Doroshko, senior M&A lawyer at ASB Consulting Group, there have been several such cases over the past year and a half.

Bespalov says accounts could also be blocked for illegal transactions, not just for attempting a transaction from Russian IP addresses.

“One way or another, the situation is controversial. In particular, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recommends that banks block accounts for payment attempts from sanctioned territories. However, we are talking specifically about fully sanctioned territories, which include Crimea, the LPR and the DPR, but not all other regions of Russia,” the expert concluded.