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Crimea and Sevastopol

UniCredit Ukraine suspends operation in Crimea

The bank pledged that the closure of its offices in Crimea would not impact the bank's liabilities to customers

© EPA/VALDA KALNINA

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Russian Central Bank may temporarily shut down certain banks in Crimea

MOSCOW, April 15. /ITAR-TASS/. UniCredit Ukraine has officially announced that it suspends operation in Crimea from Tuesday, April 15.

In an official statement , the bank, which operates under the laws of Ukraine, said it no longer had a legal basis for providing banking services in Crimea. The bank, however, pledged that the closure of its offices in Crimea would not impact the bank's liabilities to customers.

On Monday, Alfa Bank Ukraine closed its offices in Crimea.

Withdrawal of Ukrainian banks from Crimea is a planned process. It is expected that they would be superseded by Russian credit organizations within a couple of weeks. By the end of April, the overall number of new bank offices in Crimea and Sevastopol might exceed 250.

According to the Russian Central Bank, about 80 banks holding Ukrainian licenses were present in Crimea by the moment of its reunification with Russia. These banks have about ten billion hryvnias (about $835 million) on private accounts. Russia’s Deposit Insurance Agency will recoup for this money to an overall some of 30-35 billion rubles ($832-971 million).

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Crimea and Sevastopol

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