Exclusive - Russian banks strengthen ties with blacklisted Syrian lenders

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Intent on supplying his government with arms, oil and food, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has turned to Russian banks to access world markets, and the lenders could open more doors to him, despite a risk of isolation from the U.S. banking system.

U.S. sanctions aimed at forcing Assad to end the violence in Syria's two-and-a-half-year civil war forbid its own banks from dealing with Syria's central bank and the Commercial Bank of Syria. They do not cut off other countries' banks that deal with the two blacklisted institutions from the U.S. banking sector, though there are calls for tougher action.