Kostin was left under sanctions

The European Court found the introduction of EU sanctions against VTB justified. The bank fell under restrictions in August 2014, after which it repeatedly tried to appeal the court decision.
26.06.2020
RBC
Origin source
The Supreme Court of the European Union rejected the appeal of VTB to lift the sanctions imposed on the bank due to events in Ukraine in 2014, Reuters reported.

RBC sent a request to VTB.

VTB has been under EU sanctions since August 2014. In addition to it, under the restrictions imposed by the EU, then four more Russian banks fell: Sberbank, Vnesheconombank (VEB), Russian Agricultural Bank and Gazprombank.

Then, EU citizens and companies were forbidden to buy or sell new shares, bonds or “similar financial instruments” with maturities of more than 90 days issued by these banks. It was about financial institutions, more than 50% of which were owned by the state, as well as about their "daughters" and those who act on their behalf.

Later, the list of imposed restrictions was significantly expanded. In the fall of 2014, Sberbank appealed the decision to impose sanctions, after which VTB and VEB appealed to the court with similar claims. VTB and Sberbank accused the EU of violating international obligations, because, in their opinion, the EU Council could not justify on what basis sanctions were imposed against Russian banks.

In September 2018, a court in Luxembourg refused to satisfy the claims of Russian banks.

In 2014, due to events in Ukraine, the United States imposed restrictions on VTB as well, including the head of the bank, Andrey Kostin, on the sanctions list. In the fall of 2019, while discussing the development prospects of the bank in the next ten years, he said that if it were not for sanctions, he could have become private. But now there is a “constant threat” of new restrictions that affect not only the banking sector, but also VTB customers. This creates uncertainty, which may also affect the development of the bank in the future, the banker said.