U.S. to lift sanctions on former Russian Sberbank unit

(Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department will lift sanctions imposed on a former Russian Sberbank subsidiary that is now wholly owned by a Kazakh firm, its spokesperson and a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Treasury imposed sanctions on the entity, previously called Subsidiary Bank Sberbank of Russia Joint Stock Co, in February last year in response to what Russia calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine. The conflict has killed or wounded thousands and reduced cities to rubble.

Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, sold its Kazakh subsidiary in August to Kazakh state-owned financial holding company Baiterek. The Kazakh subsidiary had been the second-biggest bank by assets in the former Soviet republic.

Reuters could not immediately reach out to the entity seeking a comment.

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday first reported that the sanctions would be removed.

(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama, Steve Holland and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Chris Reese and Mark Porter)