Moscow - Ukraine is planning to impose sanctions in the coming days against companies with Russian capital that operate in the country, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Monday, Aug. 4, citing a source from the Ukrainian government.
“This concerns companies with more than 50 percent Russian capital,” the paper said.
Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service told the paper that they had already
given the government a list including up to 1,000 of such companies.
A source from the government told Kommersant that the sanctions would
be against only part of the companies on the list, particularly those
that have a relationship with state-owned Russian companies.
The first set of sanctions, which has already been unofficially
approved by the Ukrainian government, is similar to the measures
implemented by the U.S. and the EU, the paper said.
This mostly concerns blocking financing with more than 90-day
maturity, as well as banning shipments of goods and equipment of
military or dual use and banning shipments of oil and gas equipment.
The details of the second set of sanctions are currently being
discussed, but could include limiting the ability of companies with
Russian capital to participate in privatization and state tenders. These
sanctions could also restrict Russian gas companies from existing on
the Ukrainian market, Kommersant added.
The paper also said that banning shipments of goods of military or
dual use was actually not a new measure since such shipments had already
been suspended by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in mid-June.
As concerns oil and gas equipment, Ukraine currently supplies Russia
with oil and gas pipes, as well as with pumps and compressor equipment.
Volumes of such shipments are not large and can be compensated by
Russian analogues, a source from the industry told the newspaper.
Kommersant reported that the largest players on the Ukrainian market
for petroleum products were Lukoil, which has 240 filling stations and
owns Karpatneftekhim, and Rosneft with 150 stations and the suspended
Lysychansk oil refinery. The companies have not commented on the
possible effect of the sanctions, the paper said.
Lukoil reached an agreement last week to sell all of its filling
stations in Ukraine to Austrian AMIC Energy Management GmbH, Kommersant
said.
In addition, the paper noted that subsidiaries of Russian state banks
Sberbank, VTB and Vnesheconombank (VEB) held 12 percent of the Ukrainian
banking market by assets.
The banks have declined to comment on the potential effects of the
sanctions. According to Kommersant’s sources from the industry, however,
limiting access to financing will have no effect since nearly all
required funds are typically raised from Russian parent companies.
“One should not expect the sanctions to have a large-scale effect,
but Ukrainian entrepreneurs will be forced to look for new market
outlets and reorganize their businesses as such in order to avoid
overlapping with Russian [business],” Andrei Novak, the head of the
Committee of Economists of Ukraine, told Kommersant.
