Russia facing worldwide sanctions including FIFA and OnlyFans

(CMR) Several countries and world organizations have taken sanctions against Russia with the aim to cripple President Vladimir Putin's mission to overtake Ukraine. Sanctions have been brought against numerous financial institutions, Russia's athletic bodies, and even their porn stars following its attack on Ukraine.

The Cayman Islands is among countries that have imposed financial sanctions on Russia. Following the publication of the UK Sanctions List, the assets of the following organizations have been frozen: VEB.RF (Group ID: 14198), Bank Otkritie Financial Corporation PJSC (Group ID: 14199), and PJSC SOVOCOMBANK (Group ID: 141200).

Switzerland has set aside its tradition of neutrality and has frozen Russian assets. Swiss national bank data showed that Russian companies and individuals held assets worth more than $11 billion in Swiss banks in 2020, New York Times reported.

Russian football clubs and national teams have been suspended from all competitions by Fifa and Uefa after the country invaded Ukraine. The world and European football governing bodies said they would be banned “until further notice.”

This ban means the Russian men's team will not play their World Cup play-off matches next month, and the women's team has been banned from this summer's Euro 2022 competition.

Adult entertainers in Russia were also blocked from adult entertainment site OnlyFans amid financial sanctions imposed on the country. Several content creators spoke out on Sunday, saying they were unable to share new videos and access money earned via their OnlyFans accounts.

OnlyFans told the Daily Beast: “While creators are not responsible for the recent attacks on Ukraine, due to worldwide financial restrictions, we have very limited methods to pay Creator accounts linked to Russia and Belarus. As a result, payments have been limited.”

The company further stated that “new subscriptions will not be accepted and current subscriptions will not renew once they have expired” until Russian sanctions are lifted.

However, on Monday, OnlyFans told the Daily Star: “After experiencing financial restrictions, we have been able to restore account activity for creators in all countries. Their accounts will have full functionalities as long as we continue to have payment methods to support them.”

According to The Guardian, the foreign assets of the Russian president, his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, have been frozen in the EU, US, and UK, as have those of the FSB security head, Alexander Bortnikov, the chief of the armed forces, Valery Gerasimov, and members of the Kremlin's security council. The EU has imposed sanctions on all 351 members of Russia's parliament, the Duma; the US and UK are punishing selected members, as are Australia, Japan, and New Zealand.

Also, more than a dozen billionaire oligarchs with ties to Putin's regime, including Andrey Patrushev (oil company Rosneft), Petr Fradkov (Promsvyazbank), Yury Slyusar (United Aircraft), Boris Rotenberg (gas pipeline company SMP), Denis Bortnikov (VTB bank) and Kirill Shamalov, the ex-husband of Putin's daughter Katarina, are on asset freeze and travel ban lists around the world. The US is also sanctioning top state-owned bank executives from VTB and Sberbank. Canada and Australia have also imposed sanctions on multiple oligarchs.

The UK has imposed a £50,000 limit on bank accounts held by Russian nationals in the UK), and the EU has a limit of €100,000 in EU banks.

Russian airlines and private jets have been progressively banned from UK and EU airspace, and the US is considering similar action but has yet to make a final decision.

The EU has banned exports of aircraft and aviation parts to Russia, as well as exports of hi-tech goods, including semiconductors, computers, telecoms, and information security equipment and sensors. UK and EU-based companies are also banned from exporting to many Russian defense, naval, transport, and communications companies.

The EU, US, UK and Canada have agreed to prevent the Russian central bank from deploying its €640bn (£540bn) of international reserves “in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions.”

Russian banks are also being cut out of the Swift international payments system by the EU, US, UK and Canada. Brussels has said this would “stop them from operating worldwide, and effectively block Russian exports and imports.”