The US Treasury Department on April 3 lifted sanctions on Russian banker and former Finance Minister Mikhail Zadornov.
This is stated on the department's website, and also reported by Reuters.
It is noted that Zadornov, who previously headed the parliamentary budget committee and was a member of several Russian governments, was Minister of Finance from 1997 to 1999.
He later became the head of VTB24, the retail division of Russia's second-largest bank VTB. He also served as the CEO of Otkritie Bank from 2018 to 2022.
In 2022, after the start of a full-scale war, the US added him to the sanctions list.
According to Reuters sources, Zadornov recently filed a petition with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department requesting that he be removed from the sanctions list in the usual manner.
Details of the case of the former Russian Finance Minister are not being disclosed at this time, but the US Treasury Department reported that the department regularly receives and processes requests for the lifting of sanctions.
“Like the imposition of sanctions, the lifting of sanctions on individuals or their removal from the list is a tool for implementing US foreign policy objectives,” the American official noted, adding that the purpose of the restrictions is not punishment, but “to encourage positive changes in behavior” that are in the national interest of the US.