The US Treasury announced sanctions against the International Investment Bank, a Budapest-based lending institution that is majority owned by Russia. This is stated in the message of the US Treasury.
The presence of the International Investment Bank in Budapest "allows Russia to strengthen its intelligence presence in Europe," US officials say, and facilitates malign activities in Central Europe and the Western Balkans, corruption, and sanctions evasion.
A subsidiary of the bank, MIB Capital, registered in Moscow, the current head of the bank, Nikolai Kosov, and two former ones, Russian Georgy Potapov and Hungarian Imre Laslochki, also fell under US sanctions.
“IIB leaders coordinated IIB activities with Russian Federation officials even after Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kosov is the former chairman of the IIB, while Potapov and Laslochki are high-ranking officials on the board of the IIB.