India’s largest bank, the State Bank, is refusing to make payments to Russian legal entities under international sanctions imposed after the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Economic Times reports.

According to sources in the publication, the State Bank of India has also requested information from Indian oil companies on their links with Russia, notes FIRST.

Recall that on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin made an urgent appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in the Donbass. In his speech, he said that “circumstances demand decisive Russian action” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”

In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (United States, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.

In particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.

Later, EU countries and the US agreed to disconnect sanctioned Russian banks from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries have also pledged to take action to limit the sale of citizenship – the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians linked to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and access their financial systems.

You can follow the chronicle of events around Ukraine on March 1 here.