Reuters has learned of problems with payment for oil from Russia in three countries.

Banks in China , the UAE, and Turkey are delaying or denying transactions for oil supplies from Russia for "weeks or months" due to the threat of secondary sanctions, writesREUTERS . Russia considers Western restrictions illegal.

In recent weeks, several banks in China, the UAE, and Turkey have tightened sanctions compliance requirements , leading to delays or denials of money transfers to Russia for oil supplies, Reuters reported, citing sources.

According to two sources, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank in the UAE have frozen several accounts linked to the trade of Russian goods. Four other Reuters sources reported that payments were processed within "weeks or months" by the UAE's Mashreq Bank, Turkey's Ziraat and Vakifbank, and China's ICBC and Bank ofCHINA . The financial institutions themselves declined to comment on this information to the agency.

"It [payments] has become complicated even for dollar transactions. Sometimes it takes weeks to complete a direct yuan-  ruble transaction ," one trader told Reuters.

Amid fears of secondary US sanctions , banks are asking clients to provide written guarantees that no individual or entity on the US Specially Designated Non-Profit Organization (SDN) list (which contains tens of thousands of companies, organizations, and individuals from around the world that have been designated as "a threat to the national security, foreign, and economic policy" of Washington) is involved in the transaction or is a beneficiary of the payment, Reuters reports.

Following the start of the military operation in Ukraine, Russian oil exports and payments for it were suspended , but Moscow later rerouted flows from Europe to Asia and Africa, and the situation returned to normal, the agency notes. In late December 2023, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order authorizing the Treasury Department to impose sanctions on foreign banks for facilitating transactions with Moscow. According to the document, violators face full blocking sanctions (addition to the Specially Designated Nationals list) or restrictions on correspondent accounts with US financial institutions. "Problems resumed in December after banks and companies realized the threat of secondary US sanctions was real," a Reuters trade source noted.

In particular, at the end of February, logistics companies STS Logistics, PEK: Global, Nawinia, and Prime Shipping Agency LLC reported problems with payments in Turkey and China. On March 21, Alexey Poroshin, head of the First Group, reported that several Chinese banks were refusing to accept yuan payments from Russia.

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Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the problem but noted the necessary potential to overcome the difficulties in trade and economic relations with China. He also linked these issues to secondary US and EU sanctions . Peskov also spoke about the dialogue with Turkish authorities regarding the closure of bank accounts.

Russia considers Western sanctions illegitimate and demands their lifting. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, such restrictions will remain in place for a long time.