The United States, Britain, Europe and Canada decided on Saturday to block Russia’s access to the international payments system SWIFT as part of another round of sanctions against Moscow, as its assault on Ukraine continues.
The measures, which will also include restrictions on the Russian central bank’s international reserves, will be implemented in the coming days, the nations said in a joint statement.
“We are committed to ensuring that a certain number of Russian banks are delisted. SWIFT“, said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the executive of the European Union, in a statement to the media.
“This will cut these banks off from the international financial system and hurt their ability to operate globally.”
He noted that the disconnection of the russian banks of the system will prevent them from conducting most of their financial transactions around the world and will effectively block Russian exports and imports.
He added that the allies will prevent Russia from “using its war chest” by crippling its central bank’s assets, freezing its transactions and making it impossible for the central bank to liquidate its assets.
“Lastly, we will work to ban Russian oligarchs from using their financial assets in our markets,” he said.
EU foreign ministers will discuss the sanctions package in a virtual meeting on Sunday afternoon, the fourth time they have met in a week.