Citi’s Caution Threatens to Send More Russian Debt Into Default

Some of Russia’s largest companies are careening into default and Citigroup Inc. — not an inability to pay off their debts — is a big reason why.

As the largest provider of payment agency services to Russian businesses, and in some cases the correspondent bank, Citigroup plays a crucial role in ensuring that bondholders get their money. It’s been subjecting the payments to intense screenings as it tries to comply with the tangled web of sanctions imposed by the U.S., UK. and European Union on Russian entities and individuals, prompting compliance work to stretch on for days, according to people …