U.S. Puts Sanctions On Russian Bank With Syria Ties
Source: REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday for the first time imposed sanctions on a Russian bank for its dealings with the Syrian government, which has been engaged in a three-year civil war with opposition forces.
The U.S. Treasury, which so far had resisted pressure from lawmakers to sanction Russian banks over Syria dealings, put Tempbank, a small Moscow-based bank, on its list of sanctioned entities. This effectively cut the bank off from the U.S. financial system.
The Treasury also imposed sanctions on bank official Mikhail Gagloev as well as six Syrian government officials and two Syrian refinery companies, Banias and Homs.
The Treasury said Tempbank provided money and financial services to Assad's government. At one point, Tempbank delivered millions of dollars in cash to Moscow's Vnukovo Airport so cash couriers working for Syria's central bank could pick it up. Tempbank also provided services to Syria's Sytrol, a state oil company that is already sanctioned by the United States and the European Union, according to the Treasury.
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(29,876 posts)MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow has retaliated against sanctions imposed by the United States and Canada last month by expanding its lists of American and Canadian officials barred from Russia, but will not name those affected, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
"Sanctions are not our method in general, but unfriendly actions force us to respond. The most recent sanctions (imposed by) Washington and Ottawa are no exception," ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.
On April 28, the United States slapped visa bans and asset freezes on seven Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin and imposed sanctions on 17 companies, saying Moscow had failed to abide by an agreement to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.
The United States had imposed sanctions on 31 individuals and a Russian bank in March, and Canada has also announced successive rounds of sanctions over Russia's annexation of the Crimea region and its role in the Ukraine crisis.
Russia answered the first round of U.S. sanctions with a tit-for-tat response, barring 11 U.S. officials and lawmakers including Senator John McCain and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner.
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