The United States and theEuropean Unionwith Great Britain e Canadafind the agreement and exclude from Swift – the circulatory system of international financial transactions – “selected Russian banks”. In a new wave of measures, Western powers are also imposing sanctions on Russian Central Bank so that the reserves at its disposal are not able to mitigate the effects of the sanctions decided. And they are launching a squeeze on the so-called ‘golden passports’, effectively targeting the oligarchs, as well as stepping up the battle against disinformation.
In a joint note, the allies “condemn the war chosen” by Vladimir Putin and reiterate their support for the Ukrainian government and population engaged in “the heroic effort to resist the Russian invasion”. The war started by Putin represents “an assault on fundamental international norms and on those that have prevailed since the Second World War. We will make sure this war is a strategic failure for Putin“, Continues the note, in which Western leaders pledge to“ continue to impose costs on Russia to further isolate it from financial systems and our economies.
In detail, the allies undertake to ensure that “selected Russian banks are removed from Swift. This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system ”. The exclusion of Russia from the Swift was until a few days ago a distant hypothesis, considered a nuclear option. An acronym for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, Swift is a secure, universally accepted messaging system, which is the standard for quickly closing payments for goods, services, raw materials, energy products. Orders, currency exchanges, sales and purchases go through there, with over 11,000 participating companies and financial institutions, a presence in over 200 countries and a traffic of 42 million of messages per day.
Among other measures is the commitment to “impose restrictive measures that prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves” to mitigate the effect of the sanctions, the joint note from Western leaders explains. According to some estimates, there would be in the Central Bank 643 billion dollars of reserves that President Vladimir Putin accumulated prior to the planned invasion of Ukraine.
“We pledge to take action against the people and entities who facilitate war in Ukraine. In particular, we are committed to taking measures that limit the so-called golden passports, which allow rich Russians linked “to Moscow to” become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems “, continues the note in which the allies Western countries also pledge to launch a “transatlantic task force to ensure the effective implementation of financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of individuals and companies on which sanctions have been imposed”. Western leaders then warn: “We are with the Ukrainian people in this dark moment. We are ready to take other measures ”.