Russian sanctions and the banking sector

Western allies have imposed restrictive measures on Russian banks and threatened harsher sanctions on the finance sector since after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. However, they did not impede sanctioned banks to report record profits, nor deterred Russia from invading Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Although sanctions’ full effectiveness remains in questions, the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not only caused a retreat of foreign banks from mainland Russia but has also ended the international ambitions of the largest Russian banks in Europe and beyond.