RT reported that the restrictions target Gazprombank and its six foreign subsidiaries, essentially prohibiting them from conducting transactions in USD.
On November 21, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that Washington had sanctioned dozens of Russian financial institutions, including Gazprombank and six of its foreign subsidiaries.
Gazprombank - Russia's third largest bank and the main bank for oil, gas and energy-related transactions - is the last major Russian bank to retain access to the international payment system SWIFT.
The UK and Canada imposed sanctions on Gazprombank shortly after the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. Meanwhile, the US has not sanctioned Gazprombank because it is used by EU countries to pay for Russian gas.
On November 21, explaining the decision to impose restrictions on Gazprombank at this time, OFAC said that Moscow is using Gazprombank as a "vehicle to purchase military supplies".
The new sanctions mean that Gazprombank can no longer conduct any new transactions involving the US dollar payment system. The banks assets in the US have also been frozen.
Commenting on the sanctions, Gazprombank said the measures would not affect its operations in Russia, noting that all bank cards, including those using foreign payment systems, would continue to function as normal.
However, Gazprombank warned that the bank's UnionPay card could stop working outside Russia.
In addition to Gazprombank, the new restrictions target more than 50 Russian lending institutions, including BCS Bank and state-owned DOM.RF, as well as about 40 companies registered with Russian securities companies and 15 Russian financial officials.
OFAC said the new sanctions are aimed at further restricting Russia's use of the international financial system.
Todays sanctions targeting Russias largest remaining un sanctioned bank (Gazprombank), as well as dozens of other financial institutions and officials in Russia, will further undermine Russias war machine, US Treasury Secretary quan Yellen said late on November 21.
Yellen said that this comprehensive action would make it difficult for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions and make it difficult to finance and equip its military.
OFAC has also issued a warning to international financial institutions not to participate in Russia's SPFS payment system - an alternative to SWIFT.
OFAC said Moscow is using the SPFS system to evade sanctions, and said it could target foreign financial institutions participating in the system with secondary sanctions.
Moscow has long criticized Western sanctions against Russia as illegal. Moscow has repeatedly pointed out that the West has not achieved its ultimate goal of destabilizing the Russian economy and isolating the country from the global financial system, but instead has harmed itself.
