By Andrey Ostroukh

MOSCOW--Russia's largest lender Sberbank said Friday that Brussels' decision to put it on the sanctions list "undermines the foundations of the global financial system and does not contribute to the easing of the European crisis caused by the situation in Ukraine."

On Thursday, the European Union said that state-run lenders such as Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank and Rosselkhozbank, fall under the new round of sanctions imposed in response to Russia's involvement in eastern Ukraine. European investors will be forbidden from buying equity or bonds with a maturity longer than 90 days issued by these banks after Aug. 1.

Sberbank said in a statement it has no relation to the geopolitical processes and "regrets the fact" that the sanctions have been imposed. Sberbank, the largest lender in Central and Eastern Europe, said that more than a third of the bank's shares are owned by investors from Europe and the U.S. and the lender strictly adheres to the laws of the countries of its presence and meets all the standards of the European and U.S. regulators.

Unlike on Wednesday, when the market opened in positive territory as the new round of U.S. sanctions turned out to be less harsh than expected and didn't include, the benchmark Micex moved 0.7% lower on Friday to 1369.5. Sberbank shares shed 1.3% to 72.7 rubles ($2.05), trading at a distance from this year's peak of 103.3 rubles seen in January.

Though the sanctions against Sberbank were anticipated this week, the bank itself didn't expect any penalties as recently as two months ago. In June, Sberbank's head German Gref said he expected no more sanctions against Russia and the bank has vowed to stay in crisis-hit Ukraine and maintain a good relationship with the Ukrainian government.

Reacting to the sanctions against Russian banks, the country's central bank had repeatedly said it wasn't concerned about risks stemming from the Ukrainian crisis and the related sanctions, pledging to lend all necessary support to the banking sector.

Sberbank also said Friday the sanctions won't hurt its business.

"Sberbank of Russia has all the necessary resources, management experience and expertise to continue to operate successfully in the current environment and to fulfill its obligations to its Russian and international customers and partners in compliance with the norms of Russian and international law," the bank said.

Analysts took the aftermath of sanctions more skeptically. Otkritie Bank said the sanctions should limit Sberbank's and VTB's growth by impeding new financing directly and all the other operations with Western counterparts indirectly.

The sanctions will limit some of Russian banks' ability to borrow abroad and will also put pressure on the Russian defense sectors by shutting off global capital markets and operations in dollars. According to Alfa Bank data, the exposure of state-owned banks and firms to the global market is around $310 billion, half of the total corporate foreign debt. By mid-2015, state-run entities will have to redeem some $60 billion in debt.

VTB Capital, an investment arm of the sanctioned VTB, played down the impact of the latest sanctions, saying that the restrictions introduced are of an "explicitly temporary nature" given the EU intention to review them within three months.

Write to Andrey Ostroukh at andrey.ostroukh@wsj.com