Ukraine asks United States and EU to freeze all Russian bank assets

Ukraine‘s central bank governor, Kyrylo Shevchenko, called on the United States and the European Union on Friday to freeze the assets of all Russian banks within their jurisdiction and to suspend their access to their markets and banks.

“We urge you to take decisions that will help in the international fight against terrorist financing,” Shevchenko said in a statement.

In a separate letter and a post on Facebook, Ukraine‘s finance minister Serhiy Marchenko urged major western banks and asset managers such as Morgan Stanley MS.N, BlackRock BLK.N, HSBC HSBA.L, Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE, JPMorgan JPM.N and others to sever ties with Russia and Belarus.

“The fight for democracy and freedom is happening now. These are the very same values, which underpin your commitments to uphold standards of good Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance,” Marchenko said in the letter dated Friday.

“I hereby appeal to you, on behalf of each Ukrainian, asking to isolate the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus from your operations and quit these markets.”