The U.S. Treasury Department hit Russia's VTB Bank with new sanctions, accusing the financial institution of attempting to move frozen Iranian assets through the global financial system to benefit Tehran.
"VTB Bank opened offices in Iran, built banking ties with sanctioned Iranian financial institutions, and worked to move billions of dollars in Iranian assets," Treasury Department spokesperson Tmmy Pigott said in a statement on Monday. "The United States remains steadfast in cutting off the financial lifelines that allow the Iranian regime to fund terrorism, destabilize the region, and threaten U.S. economic security."
VTB, a majority state-owned entity registered in Saint Petersburg, was first penalized by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and then designated by the US following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a step which cut it off from the SWIFT financial messaging system. Still, VTB -- Russia's second-largest financial institution -- reported record profits in 2024 and has continued to expand.
ABC News has learned that the Treasury Department officials assess that this round of sanctions could be more effective in encouraging foreign banks to cut ties with VTB than earlier Russia-related measures because the authorities they have been issued under are associated with Iran and global terrorism concerns, which have traditionally enjoyed broad UN support and greater levels of compliance.
The Treasury Department is also announcing that it will meet with global financial institutions this week in order to "arm them with the information they need to shut down revenue streams and procurement networks tied to the Iranian regime, the IRGC, Iran's terrorist proxies, and their enablers."
-ABC News' Shannon Kingston