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On 8 April, the European Union (EU) blacklisted four Russian banks already barred from using the SWIFT international payments system, including VTB, Russia’s second largest bank, which had already been sanctioned by the U.K. and U.S.
Russian vodka, coal, and caviar have been banned, along with an array of other products.
The sanctions also have been expanded to include the adult daughters of Russia president Vladimir Putin, frozen their assets, and banned them from entering Western-allied countries.
The new sanctions were the fifth round imposed on Russia’s economic infrastructure and elites since Russia attacked Ukraine.
The bans already have encompassed Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank with about a third of the country’s banking assets; and Alpha-Bank, the country’s largest private lender.
About a dozen Russian banks have been targeted so far.
However, many Russian banks still use SWIFT, giving Russian money a channel to banks in Asia and the Mideast that are not participating in the sanctions.
Among the several dozen Russian banks not yet sanctioned is Gazprombank, the bank most closely associated with Putin and Russia’s elites and that has been linked to money laundering in Europe.
“It’s both groundbreaking and extraordinary, the amount of sanctions imposed, but, in many aspects, it’s the tip of the iceberg,” Washington attorney John Smith told The Wall Street Journal. Smith formerly headed the U.S. treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expects Russia’s economy to pucker by 10 percent this year and “suffer prolonged stagnation,” the WSJ said.