New U.S., EU sanctions may have negative effect on Russian economy - VTB chief Kostin
MOSCOW. July 17 (Interfax) - New economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and EU on major Russian companies and banks may have negative implications for the Russian economy, says Andrei Kostin, the chief of the second largest Russian bank, VTB .
"The sanctions that have been applied today in fact mean a blow to major Russian companies that are leaders in their sectors, be it the energy or the banking sector," Kostin said in an interview shown on the Russian news TV channel Rossiya-24 from Sydney, which is hosting a Business 20 (B20) meeting.
"Quite a significant negative effect will be caused to the global financial banking system as a whole and our economic cooperation," he said.
Kostin said he had discussed the sanctions imposed on Russia with other B20 participants, and all of them agreed that no geopolitical conflicts should affect business.
"When one state causes serious damage to the activities of financial institutions of another G20 country, these are definitely hardly compatible actions. And, in our view, such instances should be ruled out, and an arbitration mechanism could be set up within the G20 in the future to address such issues and make decisions on them," Kostin said.
The latest sanctions against Gazprombank and VEB affect the interests of millions of their individual and corporate clients, Kostin said. "Certainly, the implications for the Russian economy could be negative," he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama had announced earlier that the U.S. imposed new sanctions on a number of major Russian companies and banks, which, in particular restrict Rosneft , Novatek , VEB, and Gazprombank from accessing the U.S. capital market.