Ukraine to consider imposing sanctions on subsidiary of Russia's Sberbank
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) issued a statement in which it threatened that it would require the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of the country to impose sanctions against the Ukrainian "daughter" of Sberbank. The statement of the NBU followed the reports that Sberbank has begun to serve customers with passports from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.
"If this information is confirmed, the NBU will initiate a request to the NSDC to apply sanctions to the subsidiary bank of Sberbank of Russia in Ukraine – ‘OAO Sberbank’," the NBU said in a statement published on its website.
Earlier, Sberbank of Russia announced that since March 7, all branches of the credit institution are ready to serve customers who have passports from the DPR and the LPR. In turn, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov, urged the National Bank of Ukraine to initiate the imposition of sanctions against Sberbank.
On February 18, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to recognize documents issued to citizens of Ukraine and stateless persons living in the territories of certain regions of Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine. The documents are now recognized within the Russian Federation.