> Yes, because that activity cannot be distinguished from thd Russian government evading financial sanctions.
I am not sure this is true, but regardless I was going for a moral angle - the question was basically: Suppose a western bank was 100% certain that it was not Russian government avoiding sanctions, would that still apply?
I think in that hypothetical case you could say it’s morally okay with some debate over how much participating in the economy matters, but I don’t think that tells us much about the real world because how would you ever get anywhere close to 100% certainty that you are actually talking to the person you believe you are, they aren’t compromised, and that the government isn’t waiting to confiscate those funds? Unless the goal is just to stash money in a foreign account until you can escape the country there’s no way to avoid a fairly high level of risk trying to use it in country.
I am not sure this is true, but regardless I was going for a moral angle - the question was basically: Suppose a western bank was 100% certain that it was not Russian government avoiding sanctions, would that still apply?