Russia eyes reducing its stake in EDB to avoid sanctions

Russia plans to give up its majority stake in Eurasian Development Bank, formed by six former Soviet states to promote economic integration, to reduce the risk the lender will be targeted by sanctions, according to three people with knowledge of the plan, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

Russia, which holds 65.97% in the lender, wants to reduce its combined stake with Belarus to less than half of the development institution, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are not public.

Many state-backed entities in the two countries have been hit by US and European Union sanctions, including measures related to the war in Ukraine, although Eurasian Development Bank hasn’t been targeted.

Kazakhstan, which is part of a customs union with Russia, may end up as controlling shareholder of the bank if deal goes through, two of the people said. Currently, Kazakhstan has 32.99% stake in Eurasian Development Bank, Belarus owns about 1% and Tajikistan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan own the remainder. The institution has $1.5 billion of paid-in capital, according to its website.