Min: Kiev complicit in Sberbank office blocking by radicals

MOSCOW, Mar 14 (PRIME) -- The Ukrainian government condones blockade of local offices of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank by radical activists, an official of the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on the ministry’s Web site on Tuesday.

“Another public enemy has been discovered, who allegedly causes all troubles in Ukraine – these are banks with Russian capital, which have been operating in the country successfully since long ago for the benefit of its economy, the financial system and in interests of multiple Ukrainian depositors,” the official said.

“And again, hooligan activists are blocking operations of banks’ offices and creating obstacles for their normal functioning under a silent agreement by the law enforcement authorities. Furthermore, some members of the current government are encouraging the radicals to commit illegal actions,” the official said.

Sberbank said late on Monday that its headquarters in Kiev were blocked with concrete bricks by Ukrainian nationalists. The bank also saw 26 vandalism acts against its offices and ATMs.

Sberbank started accepting passports issued by self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics on March 7. Kiev said it disagreed with this.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov told channel ZIK late Monday that President Pyotr Poroshenko will convoke a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on Wednesday to consider sanctions against the Ukrainian affiliate of Sberbank.

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