New restrictions against Russia’s Gazprombank will hit Central European states, Hungary’s foreign minister has said
Washington’s latest decision to blacklist Russia’s Gazprombank is aimed at undermining energy security in the Central European region, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
Earlier this week, the US Treasury Department imposed blocking sanctions on more than 50 Russian financial institutions, including Gazprombank and six of its international subsidiaries.
The newly introduced restrictions effectively cut off Russia’s third-largest lender and primary bank for energy-related transactions from the SWIFT interbank messaging system, meaning it can no longer conduct dollar-based transactions.
“Including Gazprombank to the sanctions list is a decision that deliberately puts some Central European countries in a difficult situation, and deliberately jeopardizes the security of energy supplies” to several nations…
