ECB demanded from European banks to strengthen control over transactions of clients from Russia and Belarus, VK intends to resurrect ICQ messenger – these and other important news for Thursday morning, March 10, in our daily review.

European regulators demanded from banks to strengthen control over transactions of all Russian and Belarusian clients, including EU residents, to exclude the possibility of circumventing sanctions restrictions. According to Reuters sources, the European Central Bank’s order means that now “tens of thousands” of Russians and Belarusians living in the EU are subject to increased surveillance by banks, which pay increased attention to large payments and deposits, as well as new loan applications.

U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn are preparing a resolution to impose sanctions on all Russian banks. Its adoption will mean that the U.S. Senate will support the introduction of restrictions against all credit organizations, including Gazprombank, writes The Wall Street Journal. If such sanctions are imposed, Russia will not be able to receive revenues from the sale of oil and gas, Blumenthal explained. Sanctions, he said, will also prevent all other countries from doing business with Russia: “China will be able to buy oil, but will not be able to pay for it.”

Britain has updated the list of Russians and legal entities, published on March 15, which fell under sanctions because of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Forbes writes. 14 individuals and legal entities have been added to the list. Among them, in particular, billionaires Suleiman Kerimov and Viktor Rashnikov, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) Alexander Shokhin, managing director of Yandex in Russia Tigran Khudaverdyan and others.

Amid the news of the sanctions listings, it became known that Tigran Khudaverdyan, who was appointed CEO of Yandex in Russia on March 15, will leave the board of directors and the post of deputy CEO of the parent company Yandex N.V., registered in the Netherlands, the company said. Khudaverdyan will also leave his positions in the company’s structures in the Netherlands.

VK Group is preparing to relaunch its own corporate messenger MyTeams and the popular in the 2000s messaging service ICQ, known as “ICQ”. Discussions on the company’s relaunch plans began for ICQ in mid-February and for MyTeams by early March, Vedomosti reports, citing sources. One of the interlocutors close to VK said that the ICQ relaunch project was discussed at the level of top management of VK Group.