On January 15, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it imposed sanctions on Kyrgyzstan’s Keremet Bank for its role in Russia’s scheme to evade U.S. sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Treasury Department, since at least summer 2024, officials at Keremet Bank have coordinated with Russian officials and Russian bank Promsvyazbank Public Joint Stock Company (PSB) to implement a sanctions evasion scheme wherein Keremet Bank would facilitate cross-border payments for sensitive goods on PSB’s behalf.
PSB is under U.S. sanctions for operating in the defense and related materiel and financial services sectors of the Russian economy. The Russian Government nationalized PSB in 2018 and repurposed it to finance Russia’s defense industry and service large defense contracts. Since its transformation into the Russian state defense bank, PSB has issued billions of dollars of financial support for Russian military-industrial base companies.
The Treasury Department also claimed that U.S.-sanctioned Russian-Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor was involved in the discussions regarding Keremet Bank’s role in the sanctions evasion scheme.
The Treasury Department stated that in 2024, Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Finance sold a controlling stake in Keremet Bank to a firm linked to a Russian oligarch with ties to the Russian government. The Department claimed that the purchase of Keremet Bank was intended to create a sanctions evasion hub for Russia to pay for imports and receive payment for exports.
