The UN opened an account in a Russian bank to enable climate payments amid sanctions, Reuters reported on January 25.
The UN said it opened a Russian bank account in 2022 as Western sanctions complicated the use of normal payment channels and has received membership fees from three Russian banks to a UN climate funding programme since then.
The West was largely banned from working with Russian banking system after the SWIFT sanctions that were imposed only days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, not all of Russia’s banks were included in the ban.
Sovcombank, one of Russia's 13 most important credit institutions according to the central bank, said the UN had opened an account with an undisclosed, non-sanctioned Russian lender, to allow for transactions in rubles.
A UNEP spokesperson said $114,000 in membership fees from three Russian banks that are part of the UNEP FI has been received.
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed Sovcombank on its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List in 2022 making it impossible for the bank to work with US entities or people and froze its US assets. The bank has applied for a temporary license.
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