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Excluding Russian banks from the Swift was among the demands relayed during the multiple demonstrations opposing the invasion of Ukraine, such as here in Düsseldorf on February 26.
It was an expected deliberation. Limited in their military response to Russia Since its invasion of Ukraine, Western countries have adopted a new set of sanctions against Moscow late in the evening on Saturday. These decisions include the exclusion of many Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift), a Belgian banking platform which plays an essential role in global finance, announced the German government, which chairs the G7 forum.
Are concerned “all Russian banks already sanctioned by the international community, as well as if necessary other institutes”, said the spokesman for the German government. These measures have been taken by the United States, France, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Italy and the European Commission.
It is therefore a strong gesture that Western countries are making towards Russia, in the hope of depriving it of financial resources. A decision that seemed very uncertain in recent days, both Germany, for example, or even Italy, showed their fears about the repercussions of such a measure. But on Saturday, Germany, which has to deal with the difficulty of its dependence on fossil fuels from Russia – it is through Swift that it electronically regulates its purchases of Russian gas – was already beginning to break the taboo.
Video: Russian military invasion in Ukraine: can the sanctions against Moscow backfire on the Europeans? (France 24)
Russian military invasion in Ukraine: can the sanctions against Moscow backfire on the Europeans?
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Block Russian exports and imports “effectively”
Through the voice of its Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, and for Energy, Robert Habeck, Berlin, in full examination of conscience since the Russian invasion, agreed on Saturday to “a targeted and functional limitation” for Russian financial institutions, thus wishing “limit the collateral damage of a disconnection from Swift”. Speaking about this decision, the President of the European Commission Ursula van der Leyen assured that she “will prevent [les Russes] to operate worldwide and will effectively block Russian exports and imports”. In addition, the boss of the European executive proposed to “crippling the assets of the Russian Central Bank” in view of “freeze its transactions”.
It now remains to measure the effect of these measures. Worn out with financial sanctions, Moscow has indeed had plenty of time to develop a Financial Message Transfer System (SFPS), which allows it to circumvent, for a fifth of its internal transactions, the Swift, as noted the Parisian. The parties to the agreement excluding Russia from the platform have already “stressed that we are ready to take additional measures if Russia does not put an end to its attack on Ukraine and therefore on peace in Europe”.