VTB's entry into the Crimean market would mean that sanctions against the bank would be toughened, which it does not want, bank head Andrei Kostin said at the bank's general meeting of shareholders.

"Information spread in media that the government asked some leading banks to work in Crimea is not true," he said.

He said that he would like to enter the Crimean market, although the appearance of the bank in this region would result in the toughening of sanctions against the bank.

"Our country leaders understand that in the present conditions, in the conditions of sanctions it is likely that any large company, including banks, if it starts operating in Crimea, would pass from one category of sanctions where we stay, sectoral, to so-called special designation under the U.S. classification, which means tougher sanctions that include the freezing of funds and freezing of dollar accounts, which would cause irreparable damage to largest Russian banks, and no one puts this issue to us," he said.