Vnesheconomobank, as the state-owned lender is known, has been locked out of international debt markets by U.S. and European sanctions since 2014. It was saddled with bad loans after oil prices slumped, forcing the Kremlin to swoop in with a multi-billion dollar bailout. Revelations that the bank’s chief, Sergey Gorkov, met with Donald Trump’s son-in-law a month before the president’s inauguration then thrust it into the elections-meddling scandal. And now U.S. lawmakers have pressured Trump to strengthen Russian sanctions once again.
Trump’s Russia ties
Bloomberg: Russian bank linked to Trump storm lures BlackRock, Fidelity
US President Donald Trump holds a press conference on July 6, 2017.
