BRUSSELS, July 19. /TASS/. The European Union intends to tighten the sanctions regime against Sberbank, completely freezing its assets in Western countries and blocking the possibility of conducting most of the financial transactions, Reuters reported on Thursday referring to the draft EU document, which is currently being discussed by the ambassadors of the EU.
As a source in Brussels told the agency, the blacklisting of Sberbank will lead to "a freeze of all its assets in the West, as well as to a halt of all its transactions except for financial transactions in the trade in food and agricultural fertilizers."
On Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary Peter Szijjarto told reporters that at a scheduled meeting in Brussels the EU Foreign Ministers agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia, which will establish an embargo on the gold trade and introduce restrictions against 48 individuals and nine organizations. He also noted that, at the suggestion of the government of his country, an clause was included in the list of new sanctions that would allow Sberbank to fulfill its obligations to former Hungarian partners and clients.