REUTERS
On August 2, Ukraine's Monobank co-founder Dmytro Dubilet reported problems with opening accounts in UK-based banks by companies owned by Ukrainian nationals, ironically, because of sanctions slapped over Russian aggression.
The Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland says the UK financial sanctions have been imposed against persons accused of violating Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, or appropriating public funds and violating human rights, rather than against the state of Ukraine.
The website of HM Treasury and the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) provides a detailed list of restrictive measures, their nature, and specific addressees, that is, individuals or legal entities, the embassy said, commenting on information about problems Ukrainians allegedly face when opening for the companies they own accounts in British.
"The actions of banks that are guided by the general section title (Ukraine) are an obvious evidence of their lack of awareness on issues of sanctions application," the embassy said.
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According to the diplomats, they have not received from Ukrainian and foreign individuals and legal entities any claims about such actions by banks.
"In order to clarify all circumstances and prevent similar situations from happening in the future, the embassy is ready to apply to the competent authorities of the UK upon receiving copies of the relevant documents," the embassy added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on August 2, Monobank co-founder Dmytro Dubilet reported problems with opening accounts in UK-based banks by companies owned by Ukrainians because of sanctions slapped over Russian aggression. In May 2018, he announced plans to open a mobile app-based bank in the UK. Dubilet says that Britain's sanctions list includes Ukrainian representatives but not Russian ones.
According to lawyers, Ukrainians have difficulties with opening accounts in foreign banks due to reluctance of some financial institutions to check whether individuals or companies are included in the sanctions list.
The EU in 2014 imposed economic sanctions against Russia aimed at specific sectors of the country's economy. In March 2015, the EU leaders decided to link these sanctions to the implementation of the Minsk agreements. Following that, the EU has repeatedly prolonged the sanctions for six months. The validity of the current restrictive measures expires on January 31, 2019.