US Sanctions Gazprombank to Squeeze Russian Gas Exports (3)

The US sanctioned Gazprombank, the last major Russian financial institution exempt from penalties, closing a loophole that Washington kept open over the course of the war in Ukraine because the lender is key for energy markets.

The Biden administration had previously decided not to levy sanctions against the bank, which European nations use to pay for the gas they still buy from Russia, for fear of causing turmoil in global commodity markets.

The sanctions increase the risk of a cut-off of some of the remaining Russian natural gas flows to a handful of central European nations. Although Europe has reduced ...