Russian VTB might have dodged Western sanctions in early days of invasion

The state-controlled Russian Bank VTB might have avoided western sanctions in the very first day of the full-scale war against Ukraine by changing the ownership structure of its Cyprus-based subsidiary.

This information is supported by news in Cyprian media, and data from the website of the Cyprian subsidiary of the Russian bank - RCB Bank Ltd.

On February 24, the first day of the full-scale war, VTB decided to transfer 46.3% of the RCB Bank Ltd. shares to two Cyprian companies, which previously were nominal co-owners of the bank — Crendaro Investments Limited and Mitarva Limited.

As well as this, the data from Cyprian registers shows that the management board of the bank also includes Russian manager Sergii Kovtun. The CEO of RBC is Kyryl Zimarin, who has been working in the subsidiary of VTB since 2005.

Ownership change in VTB would require a level of preparation and agreement, which confirms the planned actions of the Russian bank and the fact that it had been preparing for possible US and EU sanctions against VTB for Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

According to the data from the US Ministry of finance, RCB Bank Ltd is not in the list of VTB subsidiaries, which were subjected to American sanctions. Potentially, this registration change could be an attempt of VTB to avoid western sanctions and continue business in Europe.