VTB Bank has joined fellow Russian lender Sberbank in suspending loans to individuals and companies in the Ukraine following political upheaval in the country.

The Ukrainian president fled from his seat of power in Kyiv over the weekend after months of turmoil and increasingly violent clashes between anti-government protestors and police in the capital.

VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said: "It is hard to evaluate the risk at the moment.

"We hope the situation will stabilise soon."

Russian banks make up 12% of the Ukrainian banking sector according to a Raffeisen Research survey.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said the Russian banks have lent an estimated $28bn to the neighbouring country with Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank, Sberbank and VTB among the main lenders.

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VTB announced it would stop issuing new loans on 26 February in a press conference.

Sberbank temporarily halted new lending on 21 February, although the bank said it would continue to extend credit to large companies that were financially sound.

VTB has said it has exposure to Ukraine of RUB20bn ($552m) while ­­­Sberbank’s credit exposure is RUB130bn.

 

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