European Union will withdraw more Russian banks from the swift financial system due to the invasion of Ukraine


The High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the European Union, Joseph Borrellassured that the sixth package of sanctions against Russia for its “unjustified aggression” against Ukraine will include the exit of more Russian banks from the international system of swift financial transactions and limitations on the energy sector.

The European diplomat, visiting Panama, assured that “two of the unfinished dimensions of the sanctions process that we have been applying will be affected. In the banking sector, there will be more Russian banks that will leave the [sistema] swift,” he told a news conference.

“And in the energy sector, we are working to prepare proposals to limit energy imports from Russia, especially with regard to oil,” added the representative of the European Union (EU).

Borrell had already anticipated during his trip to Santiago de Chile that the target of these measures was going to be concentrated in both areas. Five sanctions packages have already been approved so far, the diplomat said.

These have included bans on financial and state entities, and authorities, officials and oligarchs linked to the Kremlin.

Although he avoided specifying which banks they were, several European diplomatic sources have indicated that the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, which represents 37% of the market, will be included in that list.

“Europe has reacted by supporting Ukraine militarily without entering into belligerence because we do not want the war to spread, but by supporting Ukraine to defend its country and imposing economic sanctions on Russia so that it suffers the consequences of its action, weakening its economy,” he asserted. in the Panamanian capital.

Borrell is in Panama City where he will participate this Tuesday with the foreign ministers of Central America and the Caribbean in a meeting to address the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the region.

Energy sector

The EU, which currently buys two-thirds of its oil from Russia, wants to cut funding for the Kremlin’s war plans.

“My team, in the political committee for Foreign Affairs of the European Union, is working to prepare the sixth package of sanctions (…) The work is underway and I believe that in the next Council of Foreign Affairs [del 16 de mayo] Measures may be taken to limit these imports in a significant way,” he considered.

“For that, the agreement of all the member states is needed, until now we have not had it, but I am confident that at least with regard to oil imports it will be possible between now and the next council,” he said.

Borrell was received on Monday in Panama by President Laurentino Cortizo and also by Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes, who announced that 18 foreign ministers from the Caribbean and Central America will speak for the first time as a group about how the war is affecting them.

“The price of fuel, the cost of the supply chain, energy consumption” are some of the issues, Mouynes said in an official video.

Borrell said that the EU has valued “very positively” Panama’s position regarding “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”

“We are not asking Panama to do anything with respect to Russia that it is not doing [ya]”, he pointed out regarding the possibility that the Central American country, as a financial hub, could host some Russian capital subject to sanctions.

“We highly value the political position of Latin America as a whole and of Panama in particular,” he added.



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