The biggest menace NATO’s economy: American sanctions on Russian banks

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According to Russian executives, bankers and former senior American officials, the most powerful measure against If Russia Invaded Ukraine, There Would Be US Sanctions cutting off Russian state banks dollar for NATO members.

Washington and its allies in Europe, are finalizing a vast package of sanctions if Russia launched a invasion according to US and European officials.

United States package would expand a technology export ban to include all goods made with US components or software and proposed sanctions against specific Russian billionaires. But sanctions experts say more than any other measure, aggressive action against Russian state banks hit son economy the hardest.

The United States has warned that Russia could invade Ukraine as early as this week. Moscow denies having such plans corn says the West must take its concerns about NATO enlargement seriously.

“Banking sanctions are the most impactful measure the United States can take. out in the court term”said Brian O’Toole, a former senior advisor to the director of the bureau of Foreign Assets Control or OFAC in the US Treasury Department, which designs and manages the implementation of punishments.

Proposed penalties against Russian banks would prohibit them from carrying out transactions in US dollars, essentially freezing everything dollar- wording assets or liabilities held by banks in home and abroad.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on Wednesday says sanctions against Russian banks would be “unpleasant” and lead has a spike in volatility, but said the state would sure that all deposits with banks and all transactions, including in foreign currencies, have been guaranteed. Russia is abundant hard foreign exchange reserves – now at $635 billion – would be help shield against the potential hit, he said.

Whenon asks him about possible punishments on Russian state banks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that Russia was “preparing for unpredictable actions “of the United States” by covering against no risk.”

He said, “You might get the impression that all of this information noise and all these claims that Russia is about to attack Ukraine is made further contain Russia and create a reason to impose new sanctions – and so they talk about these hellish sanctions.”

Elina Ribakova, Deputy Chief Economist at the Institute of international finance in Washington said that even if Russia had enough reservations, the potential measures “could cause a run on deposits. It will certainly have a strong impact on the domestic financial system. This will increase the risk of financial instability, including widening of spreads and a sell-off of the rouble.

US sanctions far outweigh power of any other jurisdiction car the White House can potentially impose secondary sanctions on any foreign bank continuing to deal with these institutions, said O’Toole and Tom Keatinge, a finance and security expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on secondary sanctions.

Shares in The banking giant Sberbank and son small rival VTB both fell in the past the week on perspective of sanctions, although it recovered some losses after Russia declared on Tuesday that some troops were stationed near the borders with Ukraine was returning to its base after completing drills

Sberbank holds almost half of The 21 trillion Russian rubles ($277 billion) in deposits and set with accounts of state lenders VTB, Gazprombank and Rosselkhozbank for almost 60% of the national bank assets.

Going in heavy

Sberbank, VTB and the Russian Central Bank declined at comment. Gazprombank and Rosselkhozbank did not respond to requests for comment.

“Socket out Sberbank would have massive ramifications”, O’Toole added.

the nature of penalties would likely depend on on The scale of a Russian invasion.

A Russian invasion limited to an incursion into rebel-held Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine for example, could mean that the United States has staggered its targeting of Russian state banks in to maintain greater deterrence, potentially keeping Sberbank until said Daniel Fried, a former State Department Coordinator for punishments policy in the Obama administration.

But “if the Kremlin leaves in bigwe could too, and we could go in heavy in anyway,” Fried said.

Punishments on banks would partly aim to force the Russian central bank dig into son hard monetary reserves in bail order out banks and keep them afloat, O’Toole and Fried said. The center bank declined at comment on hard foreign exchange reserves and sanctions.

Russia has defenses to withstand a US-led attack attack on son financial stability. the hard foreign exchange reserves, high oil prices and low debt to gross domestic product (GDP) of 18% in 2021 place this in a good heading to weather a further tightening of existing sanctions, said Chris Weafer, director of MacroAdvisory, a Moscow-based consulting firm.

In addition, Russian state banks reduced their exposure to Western markets as the United States and European Union imposed limited sanctions. on VTB and Sberbank in reprisals for The annexation of Russia in 2014 of Crimea, which limited their ability to augment debt.

Today, the proposed state bank penalties would include a system of exemptions, licenses and wind-down periods to ensure Payments for dollar-commodity contracts denominated and debt the payments could be made, sanctions experts said.

Russian officials have largely focused on threats to cut off SWIFT’s Russia financial Messaging system in Case of war.

But US and European officials said last week this measure was now off the table due to concerns from European lenders that it could mean billions of dollars in outstanding loans they have in Russia would not be reimbursed.

dollars the key

The Director General of Sberbank, German Gref, has already brushed off reports that US sanctions could prevent Moscow from converting rubles into dollars because it believed it was “impossible to execute”.

Of them senior Russian bankers interviewed by Reuters said they expected bank at escape the worst of impact by converting their dollar euro assets.

Old senior US sanctions officials, however, said that trust was misplaced. car dollars would still have to go through a compensation American. bank in to convert them.

“Everything that is worded in dollars must clear across the United States and once you’ve done that, it’s blocked,” O’Toole said.

These sanctions, he said, could also lead frozen on dollar accounts held abroad by Russian state banks in corresponding accounts, set up manage funds on on behalf of of another one bank.

Igor Yurgens, Vice President of L’union Russian of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a powerful lobby group for Russian business told Reuters the Russian central bank was working on a program for corresponding accounts with The China through which to convert cash it should help mitigate the impact of punishments.

“Everything would be difficult, but it won”will not fall apart,” he said. Russian authorities ‘conducted tech stress tests and believe they will pull through for some time.”

Sergei Aleksachenko, a former Russian central deputy bank president living now in exile in the United States, said he believed the Western sanctions threats were not more than a virtual escalation or information war between Russia and the West.

In this impasse, “Putin’s weapon is (the movement of) tanks and the West speaks of punishments. All of this is part of of a great game,” he said.

Corn one of Top 50 Russian billionaires polled by Reuters warned political maneuvering between Moscow and Washington could come to an end up in conflicts and economic retaliation.

“Everyone has been playing a virtual game … But then all these virtual events can become facts in life.”

“The penalties will lead to serious economic consequences,” he said.

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