The Russian online bank Tinkoff, run by TCS Group Holding, said it would suspend trading in euros from Monday after the imposition of a further set of EU sanctions.
The EU agreed a 10th round of punitive measures late on Friday to punish Russia for invading Ukraine. The package includes cutting off more banks, among them Tinkoff and the private Alfa-Bank, from the Swift global payments system, Reuters reports.
“Withdrawals in euros will be available. Euro trading will be suspended from [Monday],” Tinkoff said in a statement, adding that trading in other currencies would not be affected.
In a separate statement, Tinkoff said it had prepared counter-measures to the sanctions that would allow a transfer of assets to a new non-sanctioned company within three weeks.
Tinkoff Bank was set up by the entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov, who has become an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Tinkov said last November that he had renounced his Russian citizenship over the war in Ukraine.
Tinkoff was forced to sell his 35% stake in the bank’s parent, TCS, to the Russian metals magnate Vladimir Potanin last April after a string of anti-war comments
Vladimir Putin has accused the west of seeking to “dismember” Russia and and to turn the country into a series of weak mini-states.
In an interview with the state TV channel Rossiya on Sunday, Putin claimed the US and its Nato allies wanted to “inflict a strategic defeat on us”. He said the aim was to “make our people suffer”, adding: “How can we ignore their nuclear capabilities in these conditions?”
Russia’s president said this alleged plot had been under way since the collapse of the USSR. “They tried to reshape the world exclusively on their terms. We had no choice but to react,” he said, adding that the west was complicit in Ukraine’s “crimes”.
If Washington got its way, Russia would be divided into Moscow, the Urals and other disparate regions, he continued, claiming there was “written proof” for his assertion.
The remarks come at a time when Russian troops have made localised gains in Ukraine’s east but have failed to achieve a major breakthrough. Moscow’s military focus is to capture the entirety of the Donbas region, much of which remains under Kyiv’s control.
Related: Vladimir Putin acccuses west of seeking to ‘dismember’ Russia