EU Slaps Asset Freeze, Travel Ban on Putin's Bank Rossiya Cronies

The European Union on Wednesday imposed an asset freeze and travel ban against two close associates of President Vladimir Putin, also the leading shareholders in Bank Rossiya servicing senior Russian officials.

The EU's Official Journal listed eight people and three firms hit by an asset freeze and travel ban over the Ukraine crisis, including Yuriy Valentinovich Kovalchuk, chairman and leading shareholder of the bank, and Nicolay Terentievich Shamalov, second largest stakeholder in the institution considered the personal bank of senior Russian Federation officials.