ORof all the actions that the European Union and the United States could take against Russia cut them out of SWIFT during the invasion of Ukraine. For those who do not know what it is, we are talking about the largest interbank network that allows all countries to make international transactions. Almost all countries of the world are members of SWIFT, including Russia. When the invasion began, Vladimir Putin told his people that he was sure that the rest of the world would not cut them off in this way. However, the actions of his army in Ukraine crossed this line. Finally, the European Union decided to take decisive action to undermine Russia’s economic opportunities. At the same time, the Kremlin will no longer be able to make any international payments.
In addition, the European Union announced a freeze on the assets of Vladimir Putin, along with the assets of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. This means that Russia’s central bank is prohibited from making any transactions, effectively harming the entire economy of the country. In addition to this, the European Union has also made it clear that it will also freeze the assets of all Russian oligarchs who are helping Russia in this attack on a democratic country like Ukraine. European Union President Ursula von der Leyen announced the decision on Saturday but confirmed that only some Russian banks would be blocked from accessing Swift. At the same time, the White House released an official statement on its official website.
What was the statement of the European Union?
Here is the full statement of President Ursula von der Leyer: “In agreement with the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom, I will now propose new measures to EU leaders to step up our response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and undermine Putin’s ability to finance his war machine. First, we are committed to excluding a certain number of Russian banks from SWIFT. This will stop their activities around the world and effectively block Russian exports and imports. Secondly, we will paralyze the assets of the Central Bank of Russia. This will freeze his transactions. And this will make it impossible for the Central Bank to liquidate assets.”