Kyrgyzstan's major bank suspends transfers via sanctioned Russian banks

MBank, one of the largest banks in Kyrgyzstan, has suspended money transfers through Russian banks affected by sanctions, according to the bank's statement published on Aug. 17.

Some commercial banks in Kyrgyzstan, including Mbank, partially suspended transfers with Russia in June.

In June, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a new round of sanctions, targeting Russian financial institutions that serve as intermediaries in dollar trading on the Russian foreign exchange market.

"Money transfers through Russian banks, including Sberbank, Tinkoff, and MTS, have been suspended in both directions. This service is unavailable indefinitely," the bank's statement read.

Incoming transfers will be conducted through banks that have not been affected by sanctions on ruble details, according to MBank.

Western countries have imposed extensive economic restrictions against Moscow over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, seeking to curb its state revenue and prevent it from obtaining key technologies needed for the war effort.

Russia has sought to dodge these sanctions via various third-party entities in China, Central Asia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Cyberattack hits Monobank, Ukraine’s largest direct bank

“Yesterday, it subsided at 10:30 p.m., and today, it started again at 3:15 a.m. We are approaching 3 billion service requests in two days,” said Oleh Horokhovskyi, the bank’s co-owner, on Aug. 17.

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk