Russian shares fall on Western sanctions

Russian shares have fallen sharply as investors weigh the impact of western sanctions over Ukraine.

The MICEX index, which is priced in roubles, fell as much as three per cent and the Rusian Trading System (RTS), which is priced in dollars, fell 3.6 per cent.

Stocks slumped after US President Barack Obama said sanctions might be extended to key parts of the Russian economy if Russia took further action in Ukraine.

Russia's mining, defence and natural resources sectors could all be targets.

Stocks recovered some ground the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to restore calm following the introduction of asset freezes and visa bans by the US against high-ranking Russian officials.

The MICEX closed at one per cent and the RTS index was down 1.45 per cent per cent at the end of the day.

The country's financial services industry found itself under the most pressure.

Visa and Mastercard said earlier on Friday they had stopped providing services to two Russian banks, Rossiya and SMP Bank.

Rossiya, described by the US as Russia's 15th largest bank, has assets of $12bn (£7.27bn). It said card payment services for its clients had been stopped without notification.

US officials said Bank Rossiya, which is linked to a number of Russian businessmen, had been sanctioned, and would be "frozen out" from the dollar.

They described Rossiya as a "personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation".

Visa and Mastercard confirmed they had stopped providing services to SMP Bank without providing notification.

In a statement SMP, which is Russia's 39th biggest bank with $5 billion in assets, called Visa and Mastercard's actions "illegitimate" because its owners, rather than the bank itself, were the subject of sanctions.

The bank's co-owners, billionaire brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, are childhood friends of President Putin and were hit with sanctions on Thursday.

President Putin said Bank Rossiya was "just an average bank" which had "nothing to do" with events in Crimea.


He added he did not have an account at the bank, but promised to open one "first thing on Monday" and asked for his salary to be transferred there.

He also ordered Russia's central bank to "take the bank's clients under protection and provide all possible assistance to them."


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