Viktor Vekselberg/REUTERS
Bank of Cyprus where Vekselberg owns a 9.27% stake could also block his assets.
Swiss-based banks have blocked about CHF 1 billion (EUR 865 million) on bank accounts of Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg for fear of being subject to U.S. sanctions.
In particular, UBS, Credit Suisse, and Julius Baer are among the banks that blocked Vekselberg's funds, Forbes Russia reported, referring to a source in Russia's Renova Group.
The Swiss weekly Schweiz am Wochenende earlier wrote about the blocking of Vekselberg's bank accounts (a copy of the material is published on the Watson website).
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According to the publication, CHF 2 billion (EUR 1.7 billion) was frozen on the oligarch's accounts.
In addition, Bank of Cyprus where Vekselberg owns a 9.27% stake could also block his money, an employee of one of the companies working with Bank of Cyprus told Forbes. However, the publication failed to verify this information at Renova Group.
According to Schweiz am Wochenende, the oligarch's lawyers are preparing lawsuits against the Swiss banks and their employees who decided to freeze his bank accounts. The publication notes that the businessman's representatives see no grounds for this move since the accounts were opened in accordance with Swiss laws and his assets were denominated in francs, and not in dollars.
Furthermore, the blockade affected not only Vekselberg's accounts. A number of banks, including UBS and Credit Suisse, have denied the Russian billionaire access to large stakes in Swiss industrial companies Sulzer, OC Oerlikon, and Schmolz + Bickenbach for several days, Schweiz am Wochenende wrote.
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As UNIAN reported earlier, the Russian government had supported Vekselberg's business structures that were included in a new U.S. sanctions list.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in consultation with the Department of State, on April 6 designated seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, 17 senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank.
The list includes such oligarchs as Vladimir Bogdanov, Oleg Deripaska, Suleiman Kerimov, Igor Rotenberg, Kirill Shamalov, Andrei Skoch and Viktor Vekselberg, oligarch-owned companies, such as B-Finance Ltd., Basic Element Limited, EN+ Group, EuroSibEnergo, United Company RUSAL PLC, Russian Machines, GAZ Group, Agroholding Kuban, Gazprom Burenie, NPV Engineering Open Joint Stock Company, Ladoga Management and Renova Group. Furthermore, it lists Russian state-owned firms, such as Rosoboroneksport and the Russian Financial Corporation Bank (RFC Bank). Moreover, the U.S. Treasury designated several Russian government officials, including Minister of Internal Affairs and General Police of the Russian Federation Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Director of the Federal Service of National Guard Troops and Commander of the National Guard Troops of the Russian Federation Viktor Zolotov, Head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov, President, Chairman of the Management Board, and Member of the Supervisory Council of state-owned VTB Bank Andrey Kostin, Governor of the Tula region of Russia Alexey Dyumin, and others.