Russian clients of a bank get access to payments on frozen assets

Clients of the Russian branch of the US Citibank have started receiving coupon payments on assets frozen due to Western sanctions. This became possible after the Belgian Ministry of Finance granted permission to withdraw the blocked funds. The sanctions imposed in June 2022 against Russia's National Settlement Depository led to the freezing of about $300 billion of Russian sovereign assets, and private investors were also affected.

This process only applies to Citibank's clients' funds in Russia and their payments through the Euroclear system, while most large Russian banks are unable to conduct similar transactions due to sanctions. Although Citibank is not subject to sanctions and has a direct account with Euroclear, this situation leaves open the question of the amount of funds withdrawn.

Source: Channel 24, Reuters