Ukraine has committed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to protect Russian state-owned banks` subsidiaries in Ukraine from illegal actions, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Valeria Gontareva told a briefing.
The IMF is concerned about the situation around these banks, and this was one of the reasons for the postponement of the IMF Executive Board meeting in March along with the revision of its outlooks, Gontareva told reporters Monday.
”Everything should be done in accordance with the law,” Gontareva stressed.
Earlier, the National Corps political movement stated that it intended to personally act to stop the activities of Russian banks in Ukraine after April 10, and called on Ukrainian citizens, the depositors of those banks, to immediately withdraw their money from their accounts in these financial institutions.
Earlier, on March 16, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a decree bringing into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) on imposing sanctions for a one-year period in respect of subsidiaries of Russian state-owned banks, namely Sberbank, Prominvestbank, VTB Bank, BM Bank, and VS Bank.
The sanctions were preceded by Russian president`s decree on the recognition of the passports issued by the so-called ”DPR” and ”LPR” (the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People`s Republics in Donbas) and subsequent publications in the Russian media about the readiness of Russian banks, in particular Sberbank, to service the holders of the said passports in its subsidiaries in the Russian Federation.
The subsidiary branch of the Russia`s Sberbank has been operating in Ukraine`s market since 2001. It is one of the largest in Ukraine financial institutions in terms of assets with 100% of the bank`s shares belonging to Sberbank (the Russian Federation).
