Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg said that due to US sanctions, more than $ 1.5 billion is in his accounts in foreign banks. In an interview with Forbes, he said that they can be spent with the permission of the US Treasury, but they do not give it.
Vekselberg noted that he was not allowed to allocate money to Europe even in the spring, during the coronavirus pandemic. According to him, it was about small amounts, several million dollars, but even in this case, the US refused the request.
“This was another revelation for me. How can you not be allowed to give money to those in need in such a difficult time?” he wondered. According to the billionaire, in Russia for these purposes over the past year he spent about two billion rubles. We are talking about the purchase of tests, sending medicines to regions and assistance to regional structures.
According to Vekselberg, in Europe he was asked for help by the Jewish communities of Switzerland. But when he turned to the US Treasury, he received no concrete answer.
Moreover, the leadership of the European Union, apparently, also failed to achieve anything. Vekselberg later wrote a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urging everyone to unite in the fight against the pandemic. He was answered by a representative of the secretariat of the head of the EC, the letter said that they did not understand what the US sanctions had to do with it. No one answered the second letter with a detailed explanation to the billionaire.
Earlier, the Court of Appeal in England confirmed that the British bank Cynergy may not pay interest on the loan taken from Vekselberg’s structure. He considered that such a payment could be regarded by the US Treasury as a violation of sanctions.