BBC journalist Zakharov, recognized as a “foreign agent,” spoke about blocking his account at Tinkoff Bank.

Journalist of the BBC Russian service Andrei Zakharov said that Tinkoff Bank blocked his account without explanation.

As stated in the response from the bank’s support service, Zakharov was limited to “remote banking services.”

“And it (the decision - the Ministry of Health), unfortunately, is not subject to revision. The bank does not disclose information about the reasons for limiting remote banking services. For each client, the decision is made individually based on many different factors,” the response says. The journalist was allowed to withdraw money to another bank.

The journalist clarified to Mediazona that the bank’s support service soon asked him to confirm the legal origin of the funds and that he was buying cryptocurrency through a verified account. In September 2021, the Central Bank recommended that banks block accounts associated with cryptocurrency exchangers.

In the evening, after checking the documents, Tinkoff Bank removed the block from Zakharov’s account,

Zakharov was added to the register of media outlets as “foreign agents” in October 2021, along with other former investigative journalists from the Proekt publication, whose publisher was recognized as an “undesirable organization.” After the decision of the Ministry of Justice, Zakharov spoke about the “unprecedented surveillance” of himself in Moscow and left Russia.

Updated at 20:10 and 22:03 . Added a journalist's comment and information about unblocking the account.