Treasury Expands Sanctions on Russian Bank, Increasing Pressure on Foreign Correspondent Banks

Posted 9/14/26

Treasury’s new Iran-related designation of VTB increases sanctions exposure for foreign banks that have maintained correspondent relationships with the already blocked Russian lender, putting their access to the U.S. financial system at risk. The practical impact will be difficult to gauge: VTB’s disconnection from SWIFT in 2022 removed an important source of payment-network visibility, and Treasury has disclosed neither the extent of its remaining correspondent relationships nor the transaction volumes involved.

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