The restrictions target Gazprombank and six of its foreign subsidiaries, essentially banning them from conducting transactions in US dollars, RT reported.
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 lender for oil, gas and energy-related transactions - is the last major Russian bank to retain access to the SWIFT international payments system.
The UK and Canada imposed sanctions on Gazprombank shortly after the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. The US, meanwhile, did not sanction Gazprombank because the bank 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 stated that Moscow was 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 bank's 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 usual.
However, Gazprombank warned that the bank's UnionPay cards may stop working outside Russia.
In addition to Gazprombank, the new restrictions target more than 50 small and medium-sized Russian lenders, including state-owned BCS Bank and DOM.RF, as well as about 40 companies registered with the Russian securities registry and 15 Russian financial officials.
OFAC said the new sanctions are aimed at trying to further restrict Russia's use of the international financial system.
“Today’s sanctions, targeting Russia’s largest remaining unsanctioned bank (Gazprombank), as well as dozens of other financial institutions and officials in Russia, will further weaken Russia’s war machine,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said late on November 21.
“This comprehensive action will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions and to fund and equip its military,” Ms. Yellen said.
OFAC has also issued a warning to international financial institutions not to participate in Russia's SPFS payment system - an alternative to SWIFT.
OFAC claimed that Moscow was 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 is not achieving its ultimate goal of destabilizing the Russian economy and isolating the country from the global financial system, but is instead harming itself.
