UPDATE: Minister: Russia asks Kiev to depoliticize Sberbank incident

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MOSCOW, Mar 14 (PRIME) -- Russia called on Ukraine to stop a blockade by nationalists of local offices of largest lender Sberbank and not to politicize the situation, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

He said he hopes that “the procedures which are applicable in this case in accordance with Ukrainian legislation will be implemented without politization of any kind,” Lavrov said. “I hope that the Ukrainian government will be able to use its authority to stop this outrage.”

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.

Lavrov also said that Sberbank’s executives have officially asked the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities for help.

An official of the Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on the ministry’s Web site earlier on Tuesday that the Ukrainian government condones blockade of local offices of Sberbank.

“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.

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