The European Union has sanctioned five Russian banks to protest Moscow’s intervention in restive eastern Ukraine.
The EU said it is limiting the banks’ access to European capital markets, which could further impede the already weak Russian economy that some analysts say is sliding toward a recession.
The 28-nation EU bloc called for the sanctions earlier in the week and named the financial institutions Thursday: Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, as well as Gazprombank, Rosselkhozbank, Vnesheconombank and VTB Bank.
Russia’s state-owned banks issued debt worth more than $21 billion last year, nearly half of it placed on European markets.
The effect of the …read more
Source: Voice of America
