US officials are quietly asking major banks to keep doing business with some Russian firms, despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.

Treasury and State Department officials are urging firms including JPMorgan and Citigroup to keep providing services to some Russian companies that are partly exempt from sanctions on the Russian economy, per the report.

The motive was said to be reducing the prospect of a global economic crisis. The Russian firms included state-run gas giant Gazprom and fertilizer producer Uralkali PJSC, sources told Bloomberg.

Officials are requesting that the banks continue providing basic services to the firms, like US dollar settlement, payment transfers, and trade finance offerings, according to Bloomberg.

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Representatives for the Treasury Department and the State Department did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

In a congressional hearing on September 21, CEOs of major US banks came under scrutiny for their dealings in Russia.

At the hearing, when asked by members of Congress whether his bank would cut ties with Russian companies, JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon responded: “We are following the instructions of the American government as they asked us to do it,” Bloomberg reported.

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