EU recognizes bank from South Ossetia – Kommersant

The 11th EU sanctions package includes two banks: a small Russian TsMRBank and the International Settlement Bank (IRB) from South Ossetia. The sanctions involve freezing assets. As the EU explains, the MRB has opened offices in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, and also “provides a number of banking services under the control of the Bank of Russia.” In addition, it is noted that the bank has installed ATMs in the region, and also has a branch in Luhansk. It is noteworthy that according to the website, MRB also has branches in Donetsk, which is not mentioned in the EU document. Claims against TsMRBank relate, among other things, to the operation to exchange Ukrainian hryvnias for rubles, as well as the provision of soft loans in the region. Against the background of Promsvyazbank, which previously fell under EU sanctions for approximately the same reasons, and has hundreds of branches in new regions (see Kommersant on May 19), the network of these banks is small: TsMRBank has 9 branches, MRB has 11.

It should be noted that MRB, unlike TsMRBank, operates under a license from the National Bank of the Republic of South Ossetia. Moreover, according to the order of the Bank of Russia dated February 13, 2023, the MDB cannot raise money from clients in an amount exceeding their balances as of the end of the day the order was issued.

Olga Sherunkova