Commission: Russian banks leave SWIFT – freeze assets of Russia’s central bank

LAST UPDATE 01:15

The European Union (EU) plans to impose further sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, along with the United States and other Western partners, including cutting off some Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank payment system, said European Commission President Ursula von der Ler. in an emergency briefing from Brussels.

“First of all, we are committed to ensuring that a certain number of Russian banks are removed from SWIFT,” she said.

“Second, we will freeze the assets of Russia’s central bank.”

According to the President of the Commission, this will lead to a freeze on transactions and will make it impossible to liquidate her assets.

Finally, “we will work to prevent Russian oligarchs from using their financial assets in our markets,” he added.

“Putin has started a course aimed at destroying Ukraine. But what he is also doing, in fact, is destroying the future of his country,” he said.

In coordination with 🇺🇸🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇹🇨🇦🇬🇧 I will now propose new measures to EU leaders to strengthen our response to Russia invasion of Ukraine and cripple Putin’s ability to finance his war machine. https://t.co/iU2waDzo9s

– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 26, 2022

A joint decision – and a coordinated announcement – on SWIFT is likely to be made on Sunday, Bloomberg reports, citing two sources familiar with the discussions.

THE teleconference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Union is expected to give the green light to begin work on the blockade of Russia by SWIFT, which is used to conduct multibillion-dollar transactions between thousands of banks around the world, Bloomberg quoted officials familiar with the matter as saying.

Germany: Apart from SWIFT, Russia

Germany and its Western allies have agreed to exclude Russia from the global SWIFT payment system, a German government spokesman said on Saturday, according to Reuters.

The sanctions, agreed with the United States, France, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and the European Commission, also include limiting the Russian central bank’s ability to support the ruble.

They will also end the “golden passports” for wealthy Russians and their families and target individuals and institutions in Russia and elsewhere who support the war against Ukraine, the government spokesman said.

“The countries stressed their readiness to take new measures if Russia does not end its attack on Ukraine and therefore on the European peace order,” he added.

Joint statement

The decision to remove some Russian banks from the SWIFT system was announced in a joint statement by the leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, as broadcast by APE.

“The leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, condemn Putin’s election war and the attacks on the sovereign nation and people of Ukraine. We stand with the Ukrainian government. and the Ukrainian people in their heroic efforts to resist the Russian invasion.The Russian war represents an attack on fundamental international rules that have prevailed since World War II, which we have pledged to defend. “We will collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin,” the statement said.

“Along with our diplomatic efforts and our collective work to defend our borders and assist the Ukrainian government and people in their struggle, we, like our other allies and partners around the world, have imposed strict measures on “key Russian institutions and banks, and the architects of this war, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

In addition, they express their determination to impose additional measures “that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies”, noting that the measures will be implemented in the coming days.

In particular, the measures are as follows:

* Ensure that selected Russian banks will be removed from the SWIFT messaging system. This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and undermine their ability to operate globally.

*Enforcement restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank to develop its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of sanctions.

* Action against people and entities that facilitate the war in Ukraine and the harmful activities of the Russian government.

“In particular, we are committed to taking steps to restrict the sale of citizenship – the so-called golden passports – that allow wealthy Russians associated with the Russian government to become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems,” the joint statement said.

He also said that “next week a transatlantic task force will be set up to ensure the effective implementation of financial sanctions by locating and seizing the assets of the individuals and companies under our jurisdiction.”

“As part of this effort, we pledge to impose sanctions and other financial measures on additional Russian officials and the elite close to the Russian government, as well as their families and institutions, to locate and seize the assets they hold within our jurisdiction,” it said. .

“We will also engage other governments and work to detect and stop the trafficking of illegal profits and deny these individuals the opportunity to hide their assets in jurisdictions around the world,” the leaders said.

At the same time, they talk about strengthening or coordinating against misinformation and other forms of hybrid warfare.

“We stand with the Ukrainian people in this dark time. Even beyond the measures we are announcing today, we are ready to take further steps to hold Russia accountable for its attack on Ukraine,” the joint statement concluded.