Gref: Sberbank is looking for ways to leave Ukraine

Sberbank of Russia is actively looking for ways to "as fast as possible from the Ukrainian market." According to Interfax, the chairman of the board of the organization German Gref said. “I hope that the Ukrainian authorities will provide us with this opportunity,” the official added.

Gref refused to clarify whether the option of selling a Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank is considered or is the liquidation of a business.

The official also criticized the “complete connivance from the law enforcement system of the neighboring country” to the absolutely law enforcement actions that are today against us (Sberbank. - Ed.) Completely in Ukraine in a number of cities starting from Kiev. ”

The sanctions against Sberbank, which were adopted by Kiev last week, which prohibit the withdrawal of funds from the Ukrainian branch of the organization to Russia, Gref called the "discriminatory decision."

As Interfax-Ukraine reported , back in December 2016, Gref stated that although the assets of Sberbank in a neighboring country are compressed, he does not see "some prospect of a very fast withdrawal from the market." In mid-January 2017, the official also assured that the issue of leaving Ukraine on the agenda is not worth it.

The decision to impose sanctions against five Ukrainian banks, in the capital of which there is a share of Russian state credit institutions, was adopted on March 15 by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. The next day, the country's president Petro Poroshenko approved this decision . It entered into force from the moment of signing the presidential decree.

Along with the subsidiary of Sberbank, the VIES Bank, Prominvestbank, VTB Bank and BM-Bank fell under the sanctions. Measures have been introduced for a period of one year. Their goal is to prevent the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine in favor of persons associated with banks.

The National Security and Defense Council instructed the Cabinet of Ministers and the National Bank of Ukraine to ban the placement of funds of state enterprises, institutions and organizations in these banks, as well as commercial firms with state shares in the authorized capital. The Foreign Ministry has an obligation to inform foreign states about sanctions, including the countries of the EU and the USA, and to invite them to take the same measures against these banks.

The first one year this year, large -scale attacks on the offices of Russian banks took place on January 30, after the start of Russian provocations in Avdeevka. At the Kyiv offices of Prominvestbank, BM-Bank, VTB Bank and Alfa Bank, red paint was poured. Activists also stuck on the walls stickers with the inscriptions “Welcome to Russia” (in Russian) and “Attention! This is a bank of the aggressor country. It will be closed” (in Ukrainian). On February 3, activists of the National Corps party, headed by the founder of the Azov Regiment, the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Andrei Biletsky, made the gates and VTB Bank's front door.

In March, the attacks resumed after Sberbank began to serve persons with passports of the DPR and LPR in Russia. On the night of the 13th in several regions of Ukraine, activists of the Azov civilian corps blocked the work of dozens of ATMs of Russian banks. They sealed the windows and doors of the offices with stickers, and the ATMs themselves were filled with mounting foam. The action was called Rusbankover.

On the afternoon of March 13, activists of the National Corps walled up the central office of the subsidiary of Sberbank in Kiev. Biletsky assured that the party would not allow Sberbank to work in the country and for this he would block its branches throughout Ukraine.