Due to the risk of secondary sanctions, banks of the UAE have limited settlements with Russia

Due to the risk of secondary sanctions, the banks of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have limited payments with Russia and have begun to close the accounts of companies and individuals. “Vedomosti” writes about this with reference to businessmen.

According to one of the interlocutors of the publication, banks close the accounts of Russian citizens, including “for non-transparent reasons”.

“Vedomosti” sources note that the Russians’ difficulties in the UAE began long before the US President’s decree on secondary sanctions was issued in December last year. Credit organizations stopped accepting payments from Russia. A bank from Hong Kong was added to the payment chain, but in February it refused to cooperate. Businessmen began to conduct calculations in cryptocurrency.

For companies with Russian beneficiaries that do not receive money from Russia and do not transfer it to Russia, the situation with banking services is complicated. Some banks request explanatory documents for almost every transaction and may not make a payment for a long time, the newspaper’s interlocutors note.

However, Vedomosti notes that Russian individuals and legal entities can still open an account in UAE banks, but the procedure takes more time. It can be accelerated by connections with representatives of the local elite.

In February, it was reported about difficulties with Russian payments due to threats of secondary sanctions in banks in Turkey and China – countries that have not imposed restrictions on Russia and that Moscow considers friendly.

The representative of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed the existence of problems with payments, explaining it as aggressive pressure on other countries from the US.