The Russian stock exchange has grown on the news of the positive outcome of the Geneva talks on the Ukraine crisis.

      According to the RBC Daily, MICEX was up 2.19 percent, reaching 1,358.84 points, RTS climbed 2.64 percent to 1,203.53 points.

      National indices were buoyed up by the agreement reached during the Thursday talks between Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US on the de-escalation efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.

      Earlier, Russia-IC reported that VTB chairman Andrey Kostin complained about the Bank of England’s politicized pressure on VTB Capital Plc, an investment banking unit. The Bank of England has made additional demands on VTB’s London unit relating to capital levels and liquidity controls, the bank’s Chief Financial Officer Herbert Moos told the press.

      The US and the EU introduced sanctions after Russia absorbed Crimea, a former Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority.

      Pursuant to Executive Order 13661 signed by President Obama on March 16, 2014, the US Treasury will freeze any of assets belonging to 20 Russian individuals and one bank within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit any transactions with them.

      Among them are 16 officials, including Viktor Ozerov, Vladimir Dzhabarov, Evgeny Bushmin, Nikolai Ryzhkov, Sergey Zheleznyak, Sergey Mironov, Aleksandr Totoonov, Oleg Panteleev, Sergey Naryshkin, Viktor Ivanov, Igor Sergun, Sergei Ivanov, AlexeyGromov, Andrey Fursenko, Vladimir Yakunin, and Vladimir Kozhin. Also on the list are four “members of the inner circle”, including Gennady Timchenko, Arkady Rotenberg, Boris Rotenberg, and Yury Kovalchuk.

      These individuals being designated because each is controlled by, has acted for or on behalf of, or has provided material or other support to, a senior Russian government official.