Ukraine, here’s what the US plans against Russian banks

21 February 20222 years ago babelfish

In the event of an attack on Ukraine, the United States could prevent Russian banks from doing business with American banks and transacting in dollars. What the potential measure unveiled by Reuters predicts

According to Reuters sources, among the sanctions that the United States could impose on Russia in the event of an attack on Ukraine, there is also a ban on American financial institutions from managing transactions for major Russian banks.

SANCTIONS, NOT WEAPONS

Joe Biden's administration has said several times that it does not want to stop Moscow with arms, in the event of an aggression in Kiev, but with economic sanctions . The measure revealed exclusively by Reuters – not the only one: Washington has developed a broader package – aims to sever the "correspondent" banking relations between Russian and American banks that allow international payments.

FREEZING OF ASSETS

The United States could also include Russian individuals and companies on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. It is the most powerful sanctioning tool in Washington's hands, as it allows it to expel affected individuals from its banking system, preventing them from trading and freezing their properties in the country.

RUSSIAN BANKS AFFECTED BY THE SANCTIONS

Reuters sources said they did not know which entities will be targeted by the sanctions, but they nevertheless listed some possible names: VTB Bank, Sberbank, VEB and Gazprombank; are some of the most important banks in Russia.

DOLLAR TRANSACTION RESTRICTIONS

According to experts heard by the agency, even if these institutions do not end up on the list of "Specially Designated Nationals", the United States could still significantly damage them by preventing (or making it more difficult) for them to transact in dollars: the vast majority international transactions are made in this very currency.

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE SANCTIONS

As explained by Peter Harrell, an American official and member of the National Security Council, the goal of sanctions against Russia, in the event of an invasion of Ukraine, is to "trigger capital flight" from the country, "trigger inflation , to ensure that the Russian central bank takes steps to bail out its banks ”.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/ucraina-ecco-cosa-pianificano-gli-stati-uniti-contro-le-banche-russe/ on Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:14:02 +0000.