US-Russian tit-for-tat sanctions potentially bite into global banking sector, including Israel’s
DEBKAfile Special Report March 20, 2014, 7:47 PM (IST)
High noon between US dollar and Russian ruble
The executive order disclosed by President Barack Obama Thursday covers 20 targets that strike deep inside President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and personal interests. The Russian president’s list was political but is seen as no more than his first shot.
Obama’s list includes top officials and the “oligarchs” who support him politically and financially on the assumption that the Kremlin depends on individuals who owe their wealth to their close ties with Putin to buttress Russia’s central government.
Obama’s list therefore places a ban on dollar transactions by Bank Rossiya of St. Petersburg, which has some $10 billion dollars in assets and where Putin is believed to hold his personal accounts.
The list also includes such names as Aleksey Gromov, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration; Sergey Ivanov, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office; and Sergey Naryshkin, Speaker of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament.
He has also listed prominent businessmen close to the Russian president, including the brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg and businessman Gennady Timchenko, head of the giant Volga Group (gas, oil, international trading, transport, insurance etc, which employs some 90,000 workers). Timchenko, 61, is reputed to be one of Putin’s “private wallets." Another target was Vladimir Yakunin, president of Russian Railways, the main transport for moving military personnel and equipment cross country and from Russia to Crimea.
By these sanctions, Obama evened a personal score with Putin for crossing him by annexing Crimea.
Putin's reported list of sanctioned Americans is seen by debkafile’s Moscow sources as his opening shot in response to Obama. The individuals banned from visiting Russia – not yet confirmed - may cover well-known political figures such as Congressman John Boehner, and Senators John McCain and the leaders of the anti-Russian sanctions drive, Senators Robert Menendez and Bob Corker, as well as Victoria Nuland, the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, who worked with the Ukrainian opposition that ousted the Yanokovich government.
Moscow is widely expected to go for the US and Europe by political and possibly military steps in relation to Iran and Syria.
The economic repercussions of the steps taken till now are substantial given the dramatic asymmetry between US and Russian foreign investments. Financial experts assess US investments in Russia as amounting to $14 billion compared with an estimated $500 billion of Russian investments in the West.
The US president has not yet touched the mountainous Russian assets in the West for fear of bringing western financial markets and banks crashing down. The London City which holds massive Russian assets, would bear the brunt of such action. Even the first, limited steps Obama’s directive initiated Thursday have already sent shock waves through the markets as financial institutions begin to move their money to “safe havens”. Russian assets held in Israeli banks will also be affected.
Labels: Crimea, Economy, Political Crisis, Russia, Sanctions, Secession, Ukraine, United States
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, March 22, 2014
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