Ukrainian activists renew blockade of Russian banks
Xinhua, April 10, 2017 Adjust font size:
Ukrainian activists from a far-right political group announced Monday that they have renewed the blockade of Russian banks in the country, demanding their exit from the Ukrainian market.
The blocking the offices of Russian banks has started in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev and in the eastern city of Kharkov, the National Corps said in a statement.
Particularly, the activists have disrupted the work of Sberbank and Prominvestbank, two state-run Russian banks, and the private financial institution Alfa-Bank, the statement said.
The first wave of blockade was held in mid-March, when activists carried out a series of attacks on Russian banks to protest against their alleged acceptance of documents issued by self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics in eastern Ukraine.
In the wake of the blockade, the Ukrainian government imposed sanctions on five Ukrainian subsidiaries of Russian state-run banks, prohibiting them from making any financial transactions in favor of their parent banks.
Sberbank, the largest Russian bank, announced that it has decided to sell its Ukrainian subsidiary following the latest development. Endi