(Reuters) – Russian billionaires are linked to debt obligations. Investors were on edge Tuesday as coupons payments to foreign holders ran into difficulties due to Western sanctions.

Russian steel producer Severstal was sanctioned on February 28 by the European Union. Alexey Mordashov was its main shareholder. However, the company was experiencing difficulties paying debt holders, according to a source.

Evraz, Russia’s steelmaker and largest shareholder, stated Tuesday that it had settled the March 21 coupon payment with the paying agent following a temporary blockage by a Western correspondent banking.

Bloomberg last week reported that EuroChem, a fertilizer company, had difficulties making the March 14 coupon payment. The payments were blocked by the agent. On March 16, the company declared that Vladimir Rashevskiy, who had been approved by the EU to be the chief executive officer and a member of the board was resigning effective March 15.

This shows that the sanctions Western countries imposed after Russia’s invasion had an impact. These companies are facing many challenges.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine is being called a “specially military operation.” International investors have also scrutinized Russia’s sovereign debt payments.

However, coupon payments for dollars-denominated bond coupons have so far been handled by an intermediary bank under a temporary license from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The scrutiny of assets and companies associated with rich Russian businessmen, who may be perceived as being close to Vladimir Putin’s family is particularly intense.

Russian corporations hold close to $100 billion in hard currency bonds, nearly double the amount that the Russian sovereign owes at international bond markets. According JPMorgan (NYSE) data.

Nearly half of all outstanding corporate bonds came from quasi-sovereigns, or state-run businesses. There was a strong bias toward oil and natural gas companies.

TEST PAYMENT

According to a source, Severstal has not processed a test payment it sent for the coupon for its 2024 loan participation note (LPN). Citigroup Inc (NYSE :), and the grace period will expire Wednesday.

Severstal announced on March 16th that it would explore other payment options in order to pay $12.6 million for coupon payments. It has yet to provide any additional details.

Citi and Severstal refused to comment on the information that was provided by the source to Reuters.

Evraz also faced the same hurdles. On Monday, the bank informed the company that the coupon payment for nearly $19million was being “blocked to comply” with its terms. It claimed that the matter was connected to sanctions.

It said Tuesday that the paying agent had settled this account.