SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea announced sanctions on Russian banks and other measures on Tuesday, a day after saying it would tighten export controls on Russia and join the West’s response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The finance ministry said it would suspend financial transactions with seven major Russian banks – Sberbank, VEB, PSB, VTB, Otkritie, Sovcom and Novikom – and their subsidiaries subject to U.S. sanctions.
Seoul said on Monday it will ban shipments of strategic items that may include electronics, semiconductors and computers, and added it will join Western countries’ moves to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system without giving further details.
The ministry on Tuesday also urged public and financial institutions to suspend participation in both the primary and secondary market for Russian state bonds issued from March 2.
“The government will continue to closely monitor the development of the Ukraine crisis and the sanctions against Russia by the United States, European Union and other major economies, and will swiftly decide and implement additional sanctions in line with the international community.”
(Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
