Billionaires from the Forbes list and Rossiya Bank fell under American sanctions. Forbes is monitoring the situation

On March 20, US President Barack Obama announced a new package of restrictions against Russian citizens and organizations. The sanctions are Washington’s response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol without the consent of the Ukrainian authorities, following the results of a referendum in the autonomous republic. This time, the restrictions affected not only officials and parliamentarians, but also personally large businessmen - Gennady Timchenko, Yuri Kovalchuk, brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, as well as Rossiya Bank controlled by Kovalchuk. In many ways, the list of sanctioned individuals coincided with the list of proposals from Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. Forbes is monitoring the situation as it develops.

20.03.2014

So, the new list of persons subject to visa and financial restrictions in the United States includes the former co-owner of the oil trader Gunvor Gennady Timchenko (No. 61 in the Forbes world ranking, fortune - $15.3 billion), co-owners of SMP Bank Arkady and Boris Rotenberg (No. 375 and 1046, fortune - $4 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively) and co-owner of Rossiya Bank Yuri Kovalchuk (No. 1210, $1.4 billion).

20.03.2014

What is most striking in the list published on the US Treasury website is the language taken, it seems, directly from Alexei Navalny’s blog. For example, American authorities call Kovalchuk “one of Vladimir Putin’s “cashiers,” while Timchenko’s business is directly linked to the president. “Putin has investments in Gunvor and may have access to Gunvor funds,” they say in Washington. Gunvor has already commented on these accusations as follows: “Gunvor categorically denies that Vladimir Putin has or has ever had a stake in the company and is directly or indirectly a beneficiary of our business. These allegations are completely false and outrageous."

20.03.2014

The first and so far only legal entity against which the United States officially imposed sanctions after the annexation of Crimea to Russia was Rossiya Bank, controlled by Yuri Kovalchuk. It is difficult to say exactly what restrictions will be imposed on the organization and how they will affect its work. Obama in his speech only mentioned that Rossiya Bank “provided material support to persons against whom sanctions were imposed,” for which he himself was blacklisted.

20.03.2014

Another notable figure on the sanctions list was the President of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin. In an interview with Forbes , he previously said that Western sanctions “look hysterical” and assured that he is not afraid of personal restrictions. The US Treasury Department’s commentary about Yakunin tells a whole story: “Yakunin met Putin when both worked in St. Petersburg. Yakunin decided to create a business center in the city and decided to enlist Putin's support. In addition, Yakunin became a member of the board of directors of the Baltic Shipping Company at the instigation of Putin. Yakunin and Putin were also neighbors in an elite holiday village on the shores of Lake Komsomolskoye and members of the Ozero cooperative in November 1996.”

20.03.2014

Deputy General Director of the Expert RA rating agency (rated AB Rossiya) Pavel Samiev says that the bank’s reporting does not contain data on major international operations of Rossiya; the bank’s business is localized in Russia and the CIS. “The bank carried out transactions on international markets, but they were sporadic: these were transactions on the interbank market and the purchase of securities, mainly Eurobonds,” says Samiev. An interlocutor at a large state-owned bank suggested in a conversation with Forbes that JSB Rossiya was chosen specifically so that the damage to economic relations would not be too great, since this bank has almost no operations abroad. The liabilities of non-residents to JSCB Russia as of March 1, 2014 amounted to 101 billion rubles, the total volume of the bank’s assets was 455 billion rubles. These are mainly funds in correspondent accounts with non-resident banks (45 billion rubles), as well as loans and deposits placed with non-resident banks for a period of 8 to 30 days (37 billion rubles).

20.03.2014

The rest of the participants in the US sanctions list: the head of the Kremlin administration Sergei Ivanov, his deputy Alexei Gromov, the director of the Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Ivanov, presidential aide Andrei Fursenko, senators Evgeny Bushmin, Oleg Panteleev, Viktor Ozerov, Nikolai Ryzhkov, Alexander Totoonov and Vladimir Dzhabarov, the head of the presidential administration Vladimir Kozhin, State Duma deputies Sergei Naryshkin, Sergei Mironov and Sergei Zheleznyak, Chief of the GRU of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Sergun.

20.03.2014

The famous dacha cooperative "Ozero" seems to have been one of the main targets of the US Treasury: three of its members - Vladimir Yakunin, Yuri Kovalchuk and Andrei Fursenko - came under American sanctions.

20.03.2014

The Russian Foreign Ministry responded to the American authorities with its sanctions list.

20.03.2014

Vladimir Yakunin never tires of criticizing the American side for imposing sanctions. agency The president of Russian Railways told the PRIME that “this is already taking on the character of a mental illness.” In his opinion, the United States “hits people who, apparently, represent something of themselves.” “From this point of view, you can feel flattered: after all, I probably contributed at least a little something to the formation of our country, supporting the position of the president and a huge number of people, many of whom are my friends,” he noted Yakunin.

20.03.2014

Gunvor, by the way, was not just indignant at the American authorities’ accusation of Putin’s involvement in the trader’s business. The company is also assessing "the potential business impact of Mr. Timchenko's inclusion on the list," the company said in a statement.

20.03.2014

Barack Obama also signed, although did not enact, a third sanctions decree related to the Ukrainian crisis: restrictions could be imposed on entire sectors of the Russian economy - financial services, energy, metallurgy, the mining sector and the military-industrial complex. “The implementation of this threat is not the best solution for all of us,” the US President admitted. “Not only will these sanctions have a significant impact on the Russian economy, but they could also have devastating consequences for the global economy.”

20.03.2014

The RBC agency on its Twitter account provides a comment from the US Treasury regarding Putin’s participation in Gunvor. The statements are “made based on information from all sources.”

March 20, 2014

20.03.2014

Billionaires Gennady Timchenko and Arkady Rotenberg reacted “ironically” to reports that their names were included in the US sanctions list. This message, citing a source surrounded by businessmen, was distributed by RIA Novosti . According to the agency’s interlocutor, “their reaction boiled down to the fact that they both saw in the actions of the United States an indirect recognition of their services to the Russian state.”

20.03.2014

Senator John McCain, under Russian sanctions, is predictably pleased: “I think my vacation in Siberia was ruined, my Gazprom shares were lost, and my secret account in a Moscow bank was frozen.”

March 20, 2014

20.03.2014

Forbes received a comment from the US Treasury. “All assets of legal entities and individuals placed with Rossiya Bank and located within American jurisdiction must be frozen. In addition, all transactions by US citizens and within US territories involving restricted individuals and entities are prohibited effective today. This also applies to Rossiya Bank,” the commentary says.

20.03.2014

A representative of the American department also told Forbes that, according to the US Treasury Department, Rossiya Bank occupies a unique position among Russian banks, since “it is not only controlled by a person on the sanctions list (Kovalchuk), but also functions as a bank of shadow Russian leaders.” “Bank Rossiya is Putin’s personal bank, closely connected with a narrow circle of the president’s closest advisers,” they say in Washington.

20.03.2014

In response to a question about whether Washington fears retaliatory actions against American organizations, a Treasury Department spokesman noted: “We are focusing on what we can do together with our international partners to push Russia to de-escalate the situation by returning the country’s armed forces to pre-crisis positions and respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

20.03.2014

As for the allegations about Putin’s investments in Gunvor, the US Treasury insists that it used information from all sources, but does not disclose details. The American department refused to discuss whether Alexei Navalny’s blog was the main source of the accusations leveled against the Russian leader.

20.03.2014

The international rating agency S&P has downgraded the forecast for the long-term rating of the Russian Federation in foreign currency “BBB” and the similar rating in national currency “BBB+” to negative from stable. “The worsening forecast is due to the possible significant economic and financial consequences of sanctions from the EU and the United States,” the agency said in a statement.

20.03.2014

The head of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Ivanov, took the news of the imposition of sanctions against him in the United States with humor, the head of state's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He recalled that Ivanov devoted more than twenty years to serving in the First Main Directorate of the KGB, and then in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service: “As a result of these operational activities, he was already prohibited from entering most Western countries. So he’s not used to this situation.”

20.03.2014

New sanctions from the European Union will become known in the near future. According to the Financial Times, in addition to the 21 Russian officials and parliamentarians already subject to restrictions, 20 more people will be added to the second list, including TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov.

20.03.2014

Let's refresh our memory of the personalities of the heroes. This is how Arkady Rotenberg responded in July 2012 to a question about the friendship with Putin attributed to him by the media: “Thank you very much for this! If they hadn’t promoted this, if they hadn’t called me Putin’s friend, my business would have been worse. And so it’s developing well.” Read other revelations of the billionaire in the interview “If I hadn’t been promoted as Putin’s friend, business would have been worse”

20.03.2014

But here’s what another person on the sanctions list, Gennady Timchenko, said about his alleged “friendship” with Putin in an interview with Forbes: “You see, we have known each other for many years, we meet periodically. Now this is mainly connected with sports and the work of the Russian Geographical Society. I have a lot of respect for Vladimir Vladimirovich. It seems to me that this is the leader that Russia needs today.” For more details, see the material: “The same Timchenko: the first interview with the richest of Putin’s friends . ”

20.03.2014

And some from the Forbes archival material about Yuri Kovalchuk “Chief for “Russia” : “Patience and perseverance have borne fruit. According to Volodchenko, Putin and Kovalchuk had friendly relations in the 1990s. “They have known each other since Vladimir Putin worked in St. Petersburg,” confirms Dmitry Peskov, the prime minister’s press secretary. “Today they communicate less often due to Putin’s busy work schedule.” Access to the new president in one move turned out to be an extremely valuable asset for Kovalchuk.” Read about what US sanctions threaten the billionaire in the article “Sanctions worth 100 billion rubles: Rossiya Bank could freeze up to 20% of its assets . ”

21.03.2014

Gennady Timchenko, meanwhile, showed amazing insight. On March 19, as it turned out, the billionaire sold a stake in Gunvor to his long-time business partner, the company's chief executive Thorbjörn Tornqvist, as part of an “emergency plan.” This means that Törnqvist now controls about 90% of the trader.

US tightens sanctions against Russia: online broadcast