4 sanctioned Russian banks can still use SWIFT, continue to finance war on Ukraine

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A Trap Aggressor group of analysts has found Russian legal documents listing 10 banks authorized to serve participants in state defense procurement, to provide banking support, and therefore are of strategic importance to the Russian government.

Currently, the list of such banks is closed, but the last open list included: PJSC Sberbank, PJSC VTB, JSC Gazprombank, JSC All-Russian Bank for Regional Development, JSC Rosselkhozbank, JSC JSCB Novikombank, PJSC  Bank St. Petersburg, JSC JSB Russia, JSC Far East Bank and PJSC Promsvyazbank.

In the spring, 6 of these banks came under Western sanctions and were disconnected from SWIFT, but Gazprombank, St. Petersburg Bank, VBRR, and the Russian Defense Far East Bank still use the system. For example, the Russian Defense Ministry now pays salaries and 'combat' payments to Russian servicemen through Gazprombank, the document says.

At the same time, 3 authorized Russian banks did not fall under Ukrainian sanctions, namely: Promsvyazbank, Far Eastern Bank and St. Petersburg, analysts say.

Trap Aggressor recalls that earlier Ukrainian intelligence warned that Gazprombank was one of the financial institutions through which UAVs, components for military equipment and electronic reconnaissance equipment for units of the 47th Panzer Division (Mulino) were procured.