Armenian, Kazakh banks block payments for servers, processors for Russian legal entities

Armenian, Kazakh and Hong Kong banks began to block payments for commodity nomenclature for servers, chips, processors, telecommunications equipment and other electronics for legal entities from Russia due to the risk of sanctions.

The trend is observed after the introduction of the tenth package of US sanctions, which provides for the possibility of imposing restrictive measures against banks cooperating with Russia. The restrictions include any provision of money, goods or services to or from a blocked person, "Kommersant" reports.

The publication's interlocutor said that local companies would now have to import components for the manufacture of electronics under "alternative" HS codes. In addition, the equipment may be supplied in assemblies.

Another Kommersant source said that payments are also blocked on deliveries of the latest generation of telecom equipment, as well as data storage systems and servers. The Central Bank explained that "the compliance procedures of specific foreign banks depend on their internal policies and may be characterised by varying degrees of rigidity at different periods."