Tokyo, 27 February, /AJMEDIA/
The United States and the European Union said Saturday that selected Russian banks will be removed from a key international payment system known as SWIFT, the latest in a series of sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally,” the White House said in a joint statement.
Excluding Russia from the system is one of the options the United States put on the table to respond to any Russian military aggression in Ukraine. But some European countries with close economic ties with Moscow had been cautious about taking the step.
But Europe’s stance changed as Russian forces continued to advance toward the Ukraine capital Kyiv after the invasion was launched Thursday, putting the post-Cold War international order at stake.
“Russia’s war represents an assault on fundamental international rules and norms that have prevailed since the Second World War, which we are committed to defending. We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” the leaders of the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Canada and the United States said in the statement.
The countries also said they will commit to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian central bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of the sanctions.
Excluding Russia from the SWIFT system has been called the “nuclear option” because of its potentially devastating consequences.
When Iranian banks were disconnected from SWIFT over Tehran’s nuclear program, the country lost almost half of its oil export revenues and 30 percent of foreign trade, according to experts.
Founded in 1973, SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is a provider of global messaging services for financial transactions, connecting more than 11,000 banks, financial institutions and corporations in more than 200 countries and territories, according to its website.
The organization, headquartered in Belgium, is overseen by central banks around the world, including those in Belgium, Japan, Britain, the United States as well as the European Central Bank.
The United States, the EU and other U.S. allies including Japan have been rolling out a series sanctions to pressure Russia amid the Ukraine crisis.
The United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have also supplied Ukraine with armaments and other security assistance to help the former Soviet republic defend itself.
But Russian forces have continued to attack, raising fears of Kyiv falling and concern that Putin may be seeking to send troops beyond Ukraine into other countries.
