Refusing Banks

From the MT:
"Russian Banks Refuse Passports From Ukraine's Breakaway Republics"

Russian banks are refusing to accept passports issued by Ukraine’s breakaway republics Donetsk and Lugansk, despite an order from Russian President Vladimir Putin that officials recognize the documents. None of Russia’s top 30 banks would accept passports from either the Donetsk or Luhansk People’s Republics, an investigation by Russia’s RBC news outlet revealed on Tuesday. The majority of banks did not reply to comment, or said that they only worked with Russian citizens, RBC reported. Among the companies to confirm they did not accept the documents was Sberbank, Russia’s largest state-owned bank A Sberbank spokesperson told RBC that procedures were still being put in place for Donetsk and Luhansk passport holders. "We will soon have finished all of the necessary work to adapt our systems to these new types of document,” the spokesperson said. “Sberbank will then be ready to serve individuals with passports from the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in all of our branches."  Vladimir Putin signed an executive order officially recognizing identification documents from the two self-proclaimed republics on Feb. 18. Individuals can now use the documents to cross the Russian border. The Russian Federation will also recognize locally-issued education documents, certificates recording births, deaths, marriages, and divorces, and automobile registrations. Putin said that the move would “protect human rights and freedoms” and adding that order was designed as a temporary measure until the conflict in eastern Ukraine was resolved.

^ While it's nice to see some free-thinking on the part of the banks in Russia I'm sure that Putin will soon squash all resistance. ^  

https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russian-banks-refusing-to-accept-passports-from-ukraines-breakaway-republics-57347