Wreckers: Russian banks lost more than $ 7 billion in Ukraine

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the early 90s, Western liberals diligently cleaned up the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, removing from it the most dangerous parts for them. So, back in 1992, Article 69 on sabotage disappeared. Today is the time to remember its contents:

An action or inaction aimed at undermining industry, transport, agriculture, the monetary system, trade or other sectors of the national economy, as well as the activities of state bodies or public organizations in order to weaken the Soviet state, if this act was committed through the use of state or public institutions, enterprises, organizations, or by opposing their normal work, - is punishable by imprisonment for a term of eight to fifteen years with confiscation of property.

These clear definitions, taken from Soviet law, fit very well into the policies of the leaderships of the three leading state-owned banks in the Russian Federation. We are talking, of course, about VTB, Vnesheconombank and Sberbank. Their subsidiaries lost more than $ 7 billion in Ukraine over the two and a half years after the Maidan

$ 7 billion is a colossal amount of money. These are funds that have provided and continue to provide significant support to the Ukrainian economy. For example, the entire assistance program of the Independent from the International Monetary Fund is $ 17.25 billion. At the same time, the total volume of gold and foreign exchange reserves of Ukraine is slightly more than 15 billion.

But even by Russian standards, $ 7 billion is a very significant figure. This is more than the country's total health spending in 2017. This amount is four and a half times the annual budgetary expenditures on culture. And seven times higher than the cost of the Russian housing and communal services.

It is clear that the management of domestic state-owned banks does not care about the state. None of them - neither VEB, nor VTB, nor Sberbank - opened their branches in Crimea. While our poor population donates money for humanitarian aid to the residents of Donbass, our state banks are subsidizing the Kiev terrorist regime. Our banks create additional reserves for problem Ukrainian debts, interact with the National Bank of Ukraine in perfect harmony, calmly continue servicing corporate and private clients in the state, which has declared Russia the main enemy. The marketing steps of our bankers are terrifying: for example, a subsidiary of Vnesheconombank on October 13 gallantly congratulated the Ukrainians on the Day of the Defender of Ukraine and wished "the defenders courage, courage, health, victories and a peaceful sky." Recall that this holiday was established by Petro Poroshenko in honor of the founding day of the so-called Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), formed in 1943 on the territory of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine under the strict leadership of the Nazis. The UPA units were most exposed during the Volyn massacre, marked by the massacres of the civilian population. Today, the spiritual heirs of the UPA are carrying out terrorist raids against the cities of Donbass. It is to them that the Russian Vnesheconombank wishes them victories and courage.

But even if we forget about history, about ethics, don't give a damn about the Russian people, about the memory of ancestors, if we are guided only by considerations of profit and profit, then all the same, the presence of our banks on the Ukrainian market is absurd and inexplicable! Isn't it time to hit the table with your fist and bark: "Enough!"

Of the $ 7 billion in losses, more than $ 3.2 billion are net losses that banks reflected in their statements for 2014-2016. The leader in net losses was VTB - $ 1.5 billion, VEB - $ 1.4 billion, about $ 400 million - Sberbank.

In addition to the losses incurred, Russian state-owned banks, apparently with the consent of the Central Bank of Russia, have "invested" more than $ 2.5 billion in their Ukrainian subsidiaries over the past three years. The news headlines that "Russia became the largest investor in the Ukrainian economy in 2016" are not a joke at all. This is really a real investment by state banks. According to the Ukrainian statistics service, in 2016 alone, the total investment in Ukraine amounted to $ 4.4 billion, while Russian investors accounted for $ 1.7 billion. At the same time, 90% of Russian investments are our state banks. For example, in February 2016, Vnesheconombank decided to increase the authorized capital of its Ukrainian subsidiary by $ 800 million by converting loans previously provided by Vnesheconombank.

The third component of our losses is loans that Russian banks provide to their daughters in the amount of approximately $ 1.5 billion. It was possible to discuss that investments and loans to subsidiaries may well return to Russia … They will not return any more! Since the NBU (National Bank of Ukraine) imposed sanctions on Russian banks last week, this money will not return to the country. We have lost them. Rather, like this: the management of our state-owned banks lost our money!

So, even purely economic, selfish calculations indicate that it is unprofitable, harmful, and inexpedient for our banks to remain on the Ukrainian market. But Sberbank of Russia last week, after sanctions and pogroms, after its Kiev offices littered with concrete blocks, made a new statement that it will continue to operate and serve Ukrainian clients. Having received a good kick, feeling spit, losing money, the Russian Sberbank, nevertheless, stubbornly continues its activities in Ukraine to the detriment of itself and its country.

The question arises: what considerations are the top management of Sberbank guided by in their insane ruinous policy? And most importantly - who will be responsible for the losses already received?

So far, the management of state-owned banks is doing fine. For example, Sergei Nikolaevich Gorkov. He oversaw the Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank, and it would be logical to assume that he would be responsible for the colossal losses of his enterprise. However, he was appointed in February 2016 to the post of Chairman of the Board of Vnesheconombank, has a medal of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, II degree, as well as a Certificate of Merit from the Government of the Russian Federation. It is not surprising that after such encouragements, Sergei Nikolayevich continues his pro-Ukrainian strategy at Vnesheconombank, after all, it was not for nothing that the $ 800 million of the loan was converted into shares and stuck forever in a neighboring country.

Now the management of VTB and the new curators of Ukraine in Sberbank, judging by public statements, are counting on the sale of their assets and on wealthy buyers. But who will buy something in Ukraine now? Foreign direct investment in Ukraine in 2016 decreased by 10 times. Moreover, foreign banks are also putting up their assets for sale and are rapidly leaving the Ukrainian market. At the end of 2016, the Italian group Unicredit sold its Ukrainian subsidiary. To whom? Russian Alfa Bank. There were no more buyers.

Last weekend, the IMF suspended the allocation of the next tranche of credit to Ukraine. In a press release, the fund refers to the need to assess developments affecting the financial sector and broader economic outlook. Apparently, even the IMF, which for purely political reasons provides financing to Kiev, has run out of patience. After all, any financial analyst has serious reasons to doubt the rosy Ukrainian prospects. And for a banker it is natural to want to save money, not to throw it into the black hole of the Ukrainian economy.

Only Russian state-owned banks have no doubts about the Ukrainian prospects, which looks like madness!

At the same time, the Central Bank of Russia is criminally inactive. It was the Central Bank that turned a blind eye to the wild losses of the Russian banking business and, in fact, condoned the withdrawal of capital from the country. Instead of collegially discussing with state banks a strategy for leaving the Ukrainian market immediately after the Maidan and the outbreak of the civil war in Donbass, the Central Bank of Russia did absolutely nothing. There were no joint statements or restrictions on the withdrawal of assets abroad.

The huge Russian investments in the Ukrainian economy against the background of arson, atrocities, terror, and political persecution of pro-Russian citizens look like the height of cynicism, half and half with idiocy.

The question to be asked is: who does the governing layer of the Russian financial system consist of? What is their level of thinking? What's the strategy?

Already two years ago it was clear that the policy of the Russian systemically important banks (with the speed of rabbits that rebounded from the Crimea and created enormous problems on the peninsula) runs counter to the policy of the President. However, it is now becoming clear that this is not just a line of behavior asymmetric to the state. There is direct sabotage, feeding the anti-Russian beast at the expense of Russian money. All this is happening during the crisis and international sanctions; it is possible that according to the instructions of foreign financial control centers.

Now, when the data on huge Russian losses have become public knowledge, the under-management of the aforementioned banks is trying to blur our eyes with half measures.

Meanwhile:

firstly, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation must urgently prohibit any operations of Russian banks with Ukrainian daughters; it will be enough to invest in Nazi assets, which also bring losses;

secondly, VEB, VTB, Sberbank should develop a joint plan for the immediate withdrawal from the Ukrainian market. Selling for a pittance the assets in which billions of dollars have been invested is the bottom! The position of the half-naughty or "omitted". We have to leave by slamming the door loudly. It is necessary to withdraw all remaining funds from subsidiaries through offshore structures and jointly stop any transactions with clients, both retail and corporate, at the same time. All obligations must fall on the National Bank of Ukraine. Let Nazi Ukraine, together with Bandera, Orlik and other gallows from the UPA, repay the obligations. In war as in war …

And thirdly, people who have committed such losses must be held accountable. Or 7 billion dollars is nonsense, a trifle and is not worth depriving mediocrity and pests of the right to manage the finances of our country ?!