The Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow has described as “illegal and absurd” moves by JP Morgan to block payment from a Russian embassy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow has described as “illegal and absurd” moves by JP Morgan to block payment from a Russian embassy, highlighting how tensions have continued to be high amid controversy over Russia’s absorbtion of Crimea, media reports said.

This publication is contact with the US-headquartered bank about the matter and will update in due course.

JP Morgan stopped a remittance from the Russian embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan, to Sogaz Insurance Group “under the pretext of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the United States,” Bloomberg quoted the ministry as saying on its website. Sogaz lists OAO Bank Rossiya, a St Petersburg-based lender facing US sanctions over the Ukrainian crisis, as a strategic partner on its website, the report said.

Interfering with the transaction was an “absolutely unacceptable, illegal and absurd decision,” a ministry spokesperson said.

The move happened after the US administration announced the action against Bank Rossiya in March; the action is part of a series of steps taken by the US and European Union against Russia government officials and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose associates own Rossiya. Bloomberg quoted an unnamed source as saying the embassy’s transaction was for less than $5,000 dollars.

Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine – and amid fears that Russia may also put pressure on Ukraine and possibly other bordering states to come under its control - relations between Russia and the West have sunk the lowest level since the Cold War.