By Lukas I. Alpert
MOSCOW--Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia
should refrain from further retaliation against the U.S. in
response to sanctions targeting members of his inner circle and
other high-ranking government officials following the annexation of
Crimea.
"I think we need to refrain from retaliatory steps," Mr. Putin
said.
The comment came shortly before Russia's upper house of
parliament approved a treaty to formally annex Crimea which voted
overwhelmingly last weekend to leave Ukraine and become part of
Russia. The referendum--which was held as the peninsula is under
occupation by Russian troops--has been met with international
condemnation and the imposing of sanctions against Russia by both
the U.S. and the European Union.
On Thursday, both expanded the list of those targeted by
sanctions to include several people close to Mr. Putin, including a
financial institution, Bank Rossiya, that is owned by a member of
Mr. Putin's inner circle and that the U.S. treasury department said
is used as the personal bank for senior officials in the Russian
government.
On Friday, Bank Rossiya as well as SMP Bank--which is owned by
confidantes of Mr. Putin, Boris and Arkady Rotenberg--said that
Visa and MasterCard has ceased to offer services for financial
transactions for them as part of the sanctions regime.
SMP Bank called the move illegal as it isn't directly named on
the sanctions list.
Mr. Putin said Friday that he doesn't have an account at Bank
Rossiya--Russia's 17th largest financial institution--but planned
to open one next week. Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei
Mosieev insisted Friday that the measures against Bank Rossiya
posed no threat to Russia's banking system.
Russia's Moscow Exchange fell more than 3% in early trading but
later recovered and was down 1.8% at 0925 GMT.
Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com