EU and US Drop the SWIFT Hammer on Russia – Opinion

We reported that the EU was open to cutting Russia out of the SWIFT system, provided it is directed at Russia.

The European Commission, France and Germany have now jointly declared that they will be cutting off certain Russian banks from SWIFT.

BREAKING NEWS: The US and EU have agreed to take select Russian banks out of SWIFT. They also imposed restrictions on the Russian Central Bank. pic.twitter.com/PnLFgXcYET

— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) February 26, 2022

We are determined to keep imposing sanctions on Russia as they continue their attack on Kyiv, and other Ukrainian cities. This will isolate Russia further from the international financial and economic system. These measures will be implemented within the next few days.

We commit specifically to the following:

First, we will ensure that select Russian banks are removed the SWIFT messaging platform. This will make sure that the banks in question are not connected to the global financial system, which could impact their ability for international operations.

Our second commitment is to take restrictive measures in order to prevent the Russian Central Bank deploying international reserves that could undermine the sanctions’ impact.

The third is that we will take action against people and organizations who support war in Ukraine or the destructive activities of the Russian government. Specifically, we commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship—so called golden passports—that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.

We also commit to the launch of a transatlantic taskforce this week that will enforce our financial sanctions. It will identify and freeze the assets of sanctioned companies and individuals who are located within our jurisdictions. We will use financial sanctions, other enforcement and financial measures against additional Russian officials, elites, families and enablers in order to freeze and identify the assets that they have within our jurisdictions. In addition to engaging other governments, we will work with them to disrupt illicit movements and deny those individuals access to assets across jurisdictions around the globe.

So, I guess the obvious question here is: if this is just “selected banks,” are there ways for Putin to skate away from this? What is the only “selected” protecting against, since that came from Germany’s insistence? It targets the Russian Central Bank. This was one thing Ukraine requested.

NOTEWORTHY – these sanctions are limited, targeting select Russian banks, but it does “prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions”. Targeting Russian Central Bank was a key request of Ukraine https://t.co/EpwzX6AAvg

— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) February 26, 2022

But, what prevents them from just shifting to other banks if you don’t shut them off completely? Maybe Joe Biden’s team deserves media attention.