Sanktioner er en vanskelig affære, især hvis man vil ramme modstanderen, men ikke for hårdt, og hvis man ikke ved, hvad man gør. England har sat fem private russiske banker på sin sanktionsliste, herunder Bank Rossiya, som ejes af milliardærer, der har forbindelse med præsident Vladimir Putin. Men briterne kom ved en fejl til at skrive nationalkbankens adresse på den private bank, fordi Nationalbanken i daglig tale også kaldes “Bank Rossiya”. Det vidste de pågældende embedsmænd ikke. De vidste åbenbart heller ikke, at den private bank hører hjemme i Skt. Petersborg, mens nationalbanken selvfølgelig er i hovedstaden Moskva. Briterne skyndte sig at ændre adressen, da fejlen blev opdaget, for briterne vil ikke lave sanktioner mod nationalbanken.
Britain mistakenly puts Russian central bank’s address on sanctions list
Britain on Tuesday mistakenly assigned the address of the Russian central bank to a privately held bank with close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin that was the target of sanctions announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Johnson slapped sanctions on five private banks including Bank Rossiya, which the government said was “privately owned by elite Russian billionaires with direct links to Putin”, but spared Russia’s largest state banks for now.
The government mistakenly listed Bank Rossiya’s address as “Neglinnaya, 12, Moscow, 107016, Russia” which is the address of Russia’s central bank, known in Russian as “Bank Rossiya.”
The private Bank Rossiya is based in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg. Neglinnaya Street in Moscow has been home to a Russian or Soviet central bank office for at least a century.
There is no suggestion that the Russian central bank was sanctioned by Britain.
Britain’s foreign ministry did not reply to a request for comment on the mix-up.
