Report: US ready to limit Russia’s Western borrowings to 7 days

LONDON, Jul 20 (PRIME) -- Washington is developing a new pressure package for Russia that will worsen access of Russian companies to Western borrowed funds, including decreasing the maximum term of a loan to seven days from current 30 days, U.K. daily The Times reported on July 18.

“Proposals drawn up in Washington include an attempt to close off western credit markets for Russia, according to senior U.S. officials,” the daily said, adding that the U.S. is ready to restrict access to Western credit if President Vladimir Putin does not respond to calls for peace in Ukraine. “Let’s see what Putin’s friends make of that,” one of the U.S. officials told The Times.

In 2014, the U.S. and the E.U. imposed sanctions on Russian largest and state-owned banks Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Russian Agricultural Bank and Vnesheconombank, barring them from taking over-30-day loans in the West and restricting Western companies from purchasing the banks’ bonds and shares with over-30-day maturity.

The source told the daily that the U.S. Treasury department may limit the term to seven days so that Russian businessmen and individuals prolong their credit deals every week, thus losing any hope for long-term Western loans. The issue with Russia has become a major theme for the U.S. national security for the past year, and the Treasury Department has adjusted its goals based on the newly gathered data, the official said.

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