In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Export-Import Bank said, “These transactions
all supported the sale of U. S. exports and thus supported American jobs.”
Since the sanctions took effect, the spokeswoman said, there have been no new VEB transactions,
and deals involving any Russian entities have been placed on “administrative hold.”
The sanctions also limited VEB’s relationship with American banks.
It would not be out of the ordinary, then, for a VEB official to have brief courtesy meetings with New York bankers about continuing business, though they would not
be allowed to discuss new bond deals, said Aaron Wolfson, a partner at Lewis Baach who previously worked at JPMorgan and prosecuted banks for skirting sanctions.
The two met as Mr. Gorkov traveled to gather ideas for a new strategy for the bank, published a month after the meeting with Mr. Kushner in a document called “Strategy 2021.” It called for shifting some risks directly to the Russian budget, selling assets not considered central to the bank
and trying to resume borrowing in places like the United States.
And before the sanctions, securities filings show, Goldman and others had helped the Russian bank issue bonds, activity
that was blocked by the sanctions and that VEB was eager to resume.
Since then, however, VEB has quietly kept up appearances on Wall Street in the event
that sanctions would be lifted, according to interviews with American bankers and former government officials.
In 2013, the Export-Import Bank guaranteed a loan of about $500 million so that, in effect, a VEB subsidiary
could acquire a number of Boeing 777 aircraft — planes that VEB then leased to Aeroflot Russian Airlines.
