russia-sanctions
10 March 2022
EU tightens screws on Russian banks and Belarus
On 9 March, the European Union announced that Member States had agreed to measures to:
- Restrict the provision of specialised financial messaging services (SWIFT) to Belagroprombank, Bank Dabrabyt, and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus, as well as their Belarusian subsidiaries;
- Prohibit transactions with the Central Bank of Belarus related to the management of reserves or assets, and the provision of public financing for trade with and investment in Belarus;
- Prohibit the listing and provision of services in relation to shares of Belarus state-owned entities on EU trading venues as of 12 April 2022;
- Significantly limit the financial inflows from Belarus to the EU, by prohibiting the acceptance of deposits exceeding €100.000 from Belarusian nationals or residents, the holding of accounts of Belarusian clients by the EU central securities depositories, as well as the selling of euro-denominated securities to Belarusian clients;
- Prohibit the provision of euro denominated banknotes to Belarus.’
The EU’s Council also said that it will introduce ‘further restrictive measures with regard to the export of maritime navigation goods and radio communication technology to Russia,’ and will ‘expand the list of legal persons, entities and bodies subject to the prohibitions related to investment services, transferable securities, money market instruments, and loans.’
