Russia’s exclusion from Swift ” matter of days ” says eurozone central banker

LAST UPDATE: 17:51

A decision to cut Russia off from the global SWIFT payment system will be made within days, the governor of a central bank within the eurozone told Reuters on Saturday.

“SWIFT is just a matter of time, very short time, days,” said the central bank governor, who asked not to be named.

“Is it sufficient? No. Is it necessary? Absolutely. Sanctions only make sense if there are costs for both sides and that will be costly,” he added.

Western partners are close to cutting off Russia’s access to the global SWIFT interbank payment system, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said on Saturday.

“Our goal is to make the decision as soon as possible. I can not give a specific date. From what I hear, there seems to be no strong reaction left,” Simonyte told a news conference in Vilnius.

Canada, the United States, Britain and the European Union said on Friday they could act to exclude Russia from SWIFT in a new round of sanctions aimed at halting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi had backed Russia’s secession from the global SWIFT payment system in a telephone conversation with him.

“This is the beginning of a new page in the history of our states,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter. “Mario Draghi has confirmed that Italy will support Russia’s SWIFT ban,” PD leader Enrico Letta wrote on Twitter.

Discussions between members of the European Union over Russia’s exclusion from the international Swift payment system are nearing a successful conclusion, a French presidential official said on Saturday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no EU member state was blocking Russia’s exclusion from the system, but that talks were still ongoing.