EU imposes sanctions on Tinkoff and Alfa-Bank

The EU has published the tenth package of sanctions, 121 natural and legal persons have been added to the list.

Three credit institutions were sanctioned: Alfa-Bank, Tinkoff Bank and Rosbank. The European Union explains the sanctions against these banks by the fact that the sector in which they operate provides a “significant income” to the state of the Russian Federation, as well as their role in the economy: the three banks are included to the list of systemically important.

The assets of sanctioned banks in the EU are subject to freezing, Europeans are prohibited from providing them with financing and other economic resources.

In addition to the banks, the National Wealth Fund and the MIA Rossiya Segodnya media group were included in the sanctions list.

• Tinkoff reported that they had prepared for such a scenario. The bank assured that clients will be able to use Tinkoff’s services “as usual, regardless of external circumstances.” The sanctions will not affect the service of the credit institution’s 26 million clients, he said in a statement.

The Council of the EU has previously disclosed the content of the sanctions without mentioning specific individuals and companies. In particular, it was reported that EU countries agreed to extend the export ban to Russia on critical technologies and industrial goods (including electronics, auto parts, construction products), as well as dual-use items.

In February, Russia, along with the British Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands and Costa Rica, were on the so-called gray list of tax jurisdictions maintained by the European Union.