Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sanctioned five Russian banks in Ukraine, forbidding them to transfer funds outside the country. The banks affected are Sberbank, VTB Bank, Prominvestbank, VS Bank and BM Bank.
Poroshenko ratified the March 15 decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, which also imposed a trade blockade on Russian-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine
These sanctions come amid numerous attacks on banks with Russian capital in Ukraine.
Starting Jan. 30, activists from the National Corps Party of Ukraine, which wants to sever ties with Russia, began its campaign to picket and vandalize with graffiti the Russian banks.
On March 13, representatives of National Corps Party bricked up an entrance of a Sberbank branch on Volodymyrska Street. This vandalism came after Sberbank decided to accept identifications issued by the Kremlin-backed separatists in the Donbas.
Ukraine’s Sberbank then introduced a limit of Hr 30,000 ($1,112) on cash withdrawals, blaming “disruption of cash collection schedules” because of the protests.
On Feb. 3, Ukrainian news site Hyser quoted National Bank of Ukraine Governor Valeria Gontareva as saying that banks with Russian capital would not “have a bright future in Ukraine.”
She earlier told the Kyiv Post she doesn’t see a problem with Russian-owned banks operating in Ukraine, but would obey an order from the National Security and Defense Council to shut them down.
