WASHINGTON - The Trump administration imposed sanctions Monday on a Moscow-based bank jointly owned by Russian and Venezuelan state-owned companies, for allegedly trying to circumvent U.S. sanctions on the South American country. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashed out at Cuba and Russia for continuing to support Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and contributing to his country’s economic crisis. Evrofinance was founded as a bi-national bank to fund joint Russia-Venezuela oil and infrastructure projects, according to OFAC. The other stake belongs to Russia’s Gazprombank, in which the majority Russian state-owned gas producer Gazprom is a shareholder, and to state-owned VTB Bank, which is Russia’s second largest bank. Shortly after the Treasury announcement, Pompeo accused Russian “oligarchs and kleptocrats” of stealing Venezuela’s sovereign wealth and attacked Cuba as the “true imperialist power” in Venezuela.

Source: thestar March 11, 2019 15:22 UTC