U.S. expects more banks will cut off Russian payment system Mir -senior official

Individuals stroll previous the brand of Russian cost system Mir on the St. Petersburg Worldwide Financial Discussion board (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia June 15, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photograph

WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Steps that Turkish lenders Isbank and Denizbank took to droop using Russian cost system Mir make a whole lot of sense, a senior U.S. administration official mentioned on Tuesday, and mentioned the USA expects extra banks will reduce off Mir over sanctions threat.

Isbank and Denizbank on Monday introduced individually they’d suspended using Mir after Washington expanded its sanctions final week to incorporate the pinnacle of the entity operating the cost system, which is fashionable with the tens of 1000’s of Russian vacationers who arrived in Turkey this 12 months. learn extra

The suspension by two of the 5 Turkish banks that had been utilizing Mir replicate their efforts to keep away from the monetary cross-fire between the West and Russia, because the Turkish authorities takes a balanced diplomatic stance.

“The steps these banks took make a whole lot of sense. Reducing off Mir is without doubt one of the greatest methods to guard a financial institution from the sanctions threat that comes from doing enterprise with Russia,” the U.S. official mentioned, talking on situation of anonymity. “We count on extra banks to chop off Mir as a result of they don’t need to threat being on the improper aspect of the coalition’s sanctions.”

Washington and its allies have imposed a number of rafts of sanctions focusing on Moscow following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, together with focusing on Russian banks and President Vladimir Putin.

NATO member Turkey opposes Western sanctions on Russia on precept and has shut ties with each Moscow and Kyiv, its Black Sea neighbors. It additionally condemned Russia’s invasion and despatched armed drones to Ukraine as a part of its diplomatic stability.

But Western nations are rising involved over elevated financial ties between Turkey and Russia, diplomats say, notably after a number of conferences between leaders Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, together with final week in Uzbekistan.

Final month the U.S. Treasury despatched a letter to massive Turkish companies warning they risked penalties in the event that they maintained business ties with sanctioned Russians.

Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Modifying by Mark Porter and Leslie Adler

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