The US, EU,
The latest highly co-ordinated sanctions effort against
Co-ordinated sanction strike
The analysts and lawyers surveyed by Kommersant daily note that the mass announcement of the sanctions on
When similar restrictions are introduced in several jurisdictions at once, their scope expands considerably, and this simplifies the situation for law enforcement authorities, as they co-operate with each other, lawyers told Kommersant.
Kudrin and Yandex – privatisation or nationalisation?
Sanctions on Kudrin could be a significant development for the restructuring of Russia’s internet major and most valuable internet company Yandex. As followed by bne IntelliNews, Yandex is undergoing a split between its foreign and domestic assets to minimise sanction risks following
About a dozen bidders from among
The deal discussed between the company and the government is mediated by now-sanctioned ex-Finance Minister and veteran policymaker Kudrin, who is also expected to receive a minority stake and a top-level position in the new restructured domestic Yandex entity.
Should the sanctions on the ex-FinMin complicate Yandex privatisation, it could actually be a present to Russian hardliners who are calling for nationalisation of Western assets in
Previously the head of country's second-largest state bank VTB Andrei Kostin already called for abandoning the market principles and valuations of the Yandex deal, and using the “external management” model or de-facto nationalisation of foreign assets.
As followed by bne IntelliNews, on the same day as
The new restrictions mean blocking US dollar assets and transfers, with mirror sanctions also introduced by
"We have been preparing for this turn of events and will do everything possible to make this news as unnoticeable as possible for our clients. We are currently analysing the impact of the sanctions. Tinkoff products, services and applications work as usual," the bank commented as cited by RBC.
In 2022 Tinkoff remained profitable, maintaining a
The analysts surveyed by RBC believe that Tikoff is well-prepared for disruptions of operations with foreign correspondent banks. In 2022, Tinkoff significantly cleared its balance sheet of assets in US dollars and euros.
According to RBC, US dollar assets decreased by 40%, to
Cross-border money transfers targeted
In addition to Tinkoff, the US included in the SDN list the
Notably, Unistream is one of the three largest cross-border transfer systems used by expatriated Russians along with Zolotoy Korona and Contact.
The sanctions on Unistream and Tinkoff could thus significantly reduce the options for cross-border transfers for Russians.
In
Tinkoff has already warned customers about these consequences. The
Two major Georgian banks have already reacted to the sanctioning of Unistream: the company has disappeared from the list of payment systems for crediting transfers in the bank's TBC application, and the support of
Technology and electronics
New companies associated with the development and import of electronics, components and equipment were also put on the US SDN list. This includes nuclear energy agency and contractor’s Rosatom's structure NPO Critical Information Systems (NPO KIS). It was established in
Market sources told Kommersant daily that KIS is consolidating buying electronics developers and manufacturers, including Kraftway and ICST.
The SDN-list also includes a number of companies that import radio-electronic components or provide contract manufacturing services. These are Basis Trade Prosoft (industrial computers, lighting equipment and components), Komponenta (radio electronic components, PCB assembly), AK Microtech (equipment for microelectronics production), Forpost Trading (contract assembly, supply of components), Fortap (imported hard discs, processors, motherboards and RAM), RadioTechSnab and Radiant EK (radio electronic components).
A Kommersant source close to one of the radio electronics manufacturers says that the 2022-2023 sanctions have forced market players to "move into the parallel import zone." "But the sanctions will not stop their work: for every sub-sanctioned firm, they will open 25 new ones and continue. I don't see any big problems in this," the sources claim.
Oilfield services, oil and gas engineering
The US also continued to impose sanctions against Russian oilfield services and oil and gas engineering. The SDN list included, in particular, one of the market leaders: drilling company Eurasia (the largest owner is
Market sources told Kommersant that already in 2022 both Eurasia and SSC had experienced significant difficulties in replacing components due to sanctions, as well as problems with logistics. Inclusion on the SDN list may make it more difficult to obtain drilling equipment through friendly countries due to billing problems.
The US also added to the SDN-list Gazprom Avtomatizatsiya of Russian natural gas giant Gazprom, the largest player in the oil and gas construction market in NIPI Gaz Pererabotka (abbreviated as NIPIGAZ, owned by current and former management of SIBUR petrochemical major).
NIPIGAZ manages the construction of Gazprom's Amur GPP and SIBUR's Zapsib Neftekhim complex. The company also replaced the engineering companies responsible for the construction of NOVATEK's Arctic LNG-2, which left
Far Eastern shipping and Rosatom
One of the largest cargo carriers in the Far East,
In
The SDN-list included a branch of Atomenergomash's (AEM) AEM Propulsion, which produces propulsion equipment for ships. In particular, it manufactures the propulsion system, including the propeller shaft with propeller, for the lead icebreaker Rossiya of the Leader project, which is being built at the Zvezda shipyard (managed by a consortium of Rosneft, Rosneftegaz and Gazprombank).
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