The European Union will exclude seven Russian banks from the Swift interbank communication system, which underpins global transactions, as part of its sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the EU’s official journal on Wednesday.
Among the banks, which will have ten days to close their operations on Swift, is Russia’s second largest lender, VTB, as well as Bank Otrkitie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank and VEB.
A senior EU official explained that the banks on its list were chosen based on their connections to the Russian state, with public banks already subject to sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“All these banks that we list under Swift are based on their connection to the state and the implied connection to the war effort. We have not adopted a blanket ban on the entire banking system,” the official said.
Sberbank, Russia’s biggest creditor, and Gazprombank were not included in the list because they are the main channels for payments for Russian oil and gas, which EU countries are still buying despite the conflict.
The EU official said it is not possible to simply allow energy-related transactions and exclude others, as Swift cannot differentiate between payment types. She added that these two banks are, however, subject to other measures.
The European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada acted on Saturday to block certain Russian banks from Swift, although they did not say at the time which creditors would be hit.
Source: CNN Brasil

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