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Sweeping Sectoral Sanctions Against Russia Challenge Baltic Lenders

By Koos Couvée

Acting on financial intelligence supplied by banks, Latvian authorities have frozen the accounts of "multiple" local firms suspected of doing business with blacklisted Russian companies in breach of EU sanctions, a senior official disclosed Wednesday. Since Russia launched a full-scale assault on Ukraine on Feb. 24, the EU has issued seven rounds of sanctions against the country and neighboring Belarus, designating hundreds of banks and other financial institutions, firms in the defense and energy sectors and other key industries, alongside business executives, oligarchs and Kremlin officials. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania now find themselves on the front line of the West's...

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