The University of Edinburgh has shares worth £1.1m in a bank sanctioned after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As of January this year, records show the university has Sberbank stock, held via fund manager Baillie Gifford, which is based in the Scottish capital.
The lender, Russia’s largest bank, has already caused tension at Holyrood in the last week as the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme has holdings worth about £300,000 – with MSPs calling for the investments to be removed.
With almost four times that amount, the university is also facing calls to divest after Vladimir Putin’s invasion, and a spokesman said it will now review its investments.
As part of Tuesday’s sanctions, Sberbank, which accounts for 35% of the financial sector, has been prohibited from clearing sterling payments through the UK’s financial system.
The US Treasury has also blocked the bank’s ability to process transactions in US dollars.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton joined the call for Edinburgh University to pull out of its investment with the Russian bank.
“Scotland needs to play its part in putting the squeeze on Vladimir Putin and his regime, and that means using the financial leverage we have,” he said. “It is important to send a message that Putin’s behaviour in Ukraine will not be tolerated or supported.”
A spokesman for the university said: “In view of recent events and the sanctions that the UK has implemented against the Russian state, we are reviewing our collaborations to take account of any potential security risks.
“We are reviewing the implications for our endowment portfolio, a small proportion of which includes indirect investments in Russian-related assets.
“Where these are held in pooled funds, we are engaging with fund managers as part of our review.”
Nicola Sturgeon has sought urgent advice on the “maximum possible action” the Scottish Government can take against individuals and organisations linked to Putin’s Russia who have connections to Scotland.
The First Minister said she is seeking to discover what powers ministers at Holyrood have with regard to those with “close links with the Russian regime”.
This will consider whether the Scottish Government can step in to freeze or seize any assets in Scotland, she said.
Sturgeon revealed the move as Scottish Green Ross Greer told MSPs that the Aberuchill estate in Perthshire owned by Russian oligarch Vladimir Lisin had received almost £700,000 in agricultural subsidies between 2016 and 2019.
The wealthy Russian is on the US Treasury Department’s list of “known Kremlin associates”, Greer said.
Raising the issue at First Minister’s Questions, he asked Sturgeon if she would “urgently review the agricultural payment system and any other relevant payment system to ensure no member of the Russian elite, no Kremlin associate, is in receipt of public money here in Scotland”.
Sturgeon said she will make sure that happens as she told MSPs: “I have sought urgent advice on the maximum possible action that the Scottish Government can take within our powers against individuals and entities identifying as having close links with the Russian regime, whether or not they are currently on the UK sanctions list.
“Options that will be examined include, but are not limited to, ending the support from the public purse or freezing or seizing assets in Scotland, where that is possible.”
The action came as Sturgeon pledged: “The Scottish Government and our economic agencies will not support trade and investment activity with Russia.”
Meanwhile, Finance and Economy Secretary Kate Forbes has sent an open letter to Scotland’s business community asking it to show solidarity with Ukraine by ending any links with Russia.
Forbes said: “We all have a moral duty right now to consider what else we can do to try to stop Putin’s aggression, including via economic action.”
She praised the “commendable corporate values” of firms which have already acted.
She added: “Beyond direct investments, reviewing operations for links and connections to Russia – however indirect – and then severing them is the right decision.
“I welcome the effort being undertaken right now by businesses across Scotland to do exactly that, and encourage them to continue to conduct this work at pace.”
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