U.S. sanctions Putin’s shipbuilder and its bank

JULY 29, 2014 — Russia’s St Petersburg headquartered United Shibuilding Corporation, created by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a St Petersburg native, through a presidential decree in 2007, has been added to the list of entities sanctioned by the U.S. to put pressure on Russia over its activities in Ukraine and Crimea.

It is now the Treasury’s “SDN” list of specially designated nationals of targeted countries. Their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.

United Shipbuilding Corporation is Russia’s largest shipbuilding company. The federally owned corporation, established by presidential executive order in 2007, includes about 60 shipyards, design bureaus and ship repair plants, which build 80% of the country’s ships and vessels. USC enterprises and organizations employ approximately 80,000 people.

It has a 50% stake in Finland’s Arctech Helsinki Shipyard.

The U.S. Treasury lists it as:

UNITED SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION (a.k.a. OBEDINENNAYA SUDOSTROITELNAYA KORPORATSIYA OAO; a.k.a. OJSC UNITED SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION; a.k.a. UNITED SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION JOINT STOCK COMPANY; a.k.a. “OSK OAO”), 90, Marata ul., St. Petersburg 191119, Russia; 11, Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya str., Moscow 123242, Russia; Website http://www.oaoosk.ru/; Email Address info@oaoosk.ru [UKRAINE2].

The Bank of Moscow, the Russian Agricultural Bank, and VTB Bank were added to a list of companies to which U.S. persons and firms are barred from providing financing for longer than 90 days or issuing new equity to the companies.

The Russian government owns 60.9% of VTB Bank’s equity. The bank, headquartered in St. Petersburg, has a relationship with United Shipbuilding Corporation described as “of a systemic and long-term nature [that] promotes the competitiveness of Russian shipbuilding and Russia’s economy in general,” by Valery Lukyanenko, a Member of VTB Bank’s Management Board.

Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department also announced that it would impose export-license restrictions on new technologies for deepwater or Arctic shale drilling in Russia.