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Eastern Europe
October 5, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
Andrei Kostin, the boss at rival lender VTB, warned that Russians with bank accounts in dollars will only be able to make withdraw-
als in rubles if new sanctions take effect. VTB, which sold its US operation in September, may decamp entirely from London after cutting staff there to the bone.
Sberbank has so far declined to outline any plans it may have for setting up a headquarters for its investment bank within the EU. However, the par- ent bank has been rapidly retreating from main- land Central, Eastern Europe and Turkey in
a series of disposals.
Ukrainian politicians pledge to collect Russia's natural
gas debts
Sergei Kuznetsov in Kyiv
Ukraine's two-time former premier and Batkivshchyna Party's leader Yulia Tymoshenko has promised to collect multi-billion dollar debts from Gazprom, saying the Russian natural gas monopoly must pay "up to the last kopeck".
"Nobody will forgive any debts to anyone. Russia and Gazprom will pay everything up to the last kopeck, because their debt is a debt to Ukraine, not to [Ukraine’s gas monopoly] Naftogaz," Tymoshenko wrote on her official Facebook page.
She added that these funds will be used not to pay "millions in bonuses to the Naftogaz management and will not go to the pockets of the corrupt authorities".
"This money is for the people rather than for bureaucrats," she wrote.
Gref told state TV earlier this year that sanctions have made the bank's life in Europe "extremely difficult."
Kremlin-controlled lenders like Sberbank have been subjected to sanctions by the US and EU since Rus- sia fomented a separatist war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, barring them from raising capital with a maturity of more than 30 days in western markets.
Sberbank, which controls about 46% of Russia’s deposits and a third of the nation’s loans, has had a torrid time in the UK over the past few years but intends to stay the course."
In February, the Stockholm arbitration court ruled that Gazprom must pay Naftogaz a total of $2.6bn, ending a four-year legal battle over gas supply contracts.
In February, the Stockholm arbitration court ruled that Gazprom must pay Naftogaz a total of $2.6bn, ending a four-year legal battle over gas supply contracts.
On October 1, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshen- ko said that he is confident that all the funds won by Ukraine in courts against Russia will be returned to the Ukrainian state.
"Let them not flatter themselves — this sum will be fully paid to Ukraine. No, sorry, even more will be returned, because every day when Russia does not pay, the amount of payment is growing by half a million dollars," Interfax news agency quoted Poroshenko as saying."And I have no doubt that the amount will be received in the near future."
Naftogaz liquidation
Tymoshenko has also declared her intention to