ATMs of Russian banks in Ukraine filled with spray foam in protest

In Ukraine, the ATMs of several Russian banks have been disabled, reported Interfax-Ukraine on Monday, citing a statement by nationalist organization Azov.

According to Azov, the “RUSBANKOVER” protest was was executed by “unknown patriot.”

Dozens of ATMs in various regions across the country were allegedly filled with spray foam, the statement read. Photographs of several affected ATMs have been published on the Azov website.

It has not been possible to piece together information in regards to the scale of the protest from other sources.

In its statement, Azov established that it supports the protest. The fight against Russian influence in the Ukrainian banking sector, the report read, “continues and will be [manifested by means of] similar radical actions.”

Since early 2017, several protests have taken place in Ukraine against the VTB and Sberbank subsidiaries operating in the local market. Over the course of these protests, the branches these banks have been plastered with leaflets and doused with paint. In Kiev, there was an attempt to “brew” the door of a branch of a local subsidiary of VTB.

Veterans of the anti-separatist operations in the Donbass and other activists who, in late February, organized a blockade of railway lines connecting territories controlled by the authorities with the Lugansk and Donbas People’s Republics with the rest of Ukraine, announced on March 10 that they intended to halt Sberbank’s operation in the country within two weeks.

The activists demanded that Ukrainian authorities prohibit Sberbank’s operation in light of the Russian bank’s announcement that it would begin servicing clients with passports from the two separatist regions. Ukrainian authorities have yet to officially make an decisions in regards to this matter.