Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, will open more than 40 branches in the Russian-occupied territories in eastern and southern Ukraine next week.
According to the state news agency TASS, Sberbank boss German Gref said at the firm's annual general meeting in Moscow that there will be 26 branches in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions, some of which will be housed in partners' offices or in local citizens' offices.
There would also be 16 mobile branches. The number of Sberbank ATMs in Donetsk and Luhansk will be increased to 65, he said.
The appearance of the Russian banks, like the issuing of Russian passports or the transition to the Russian pension system, is part of the occupying power's policy of tying the Ukrainian territories to Moscow.
Following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson in September 2022.
However, parts of these territories are still under the control of the Ukrainian army, with the war between Russia and Ukraine now well over two years old.
At the beginning of June, the state-owned bank VTB also announced the opening of branches in Donetsk and Luhansk.
President Vladimir Putin had in January had called on the banks to start operations in these new territories.
Despite sanctions on Sberbank, Gref presented a record profit of 1.5 trillion roubles (17 billion dollars) for 2023.