Reuters: US and EU will not disconnect Russia from SWIFT, sanctions will affect banks European countries opposed such a measure. The fact that Russia's disconnection from SWIFT will not benefit anyone was previously stated both in Moscow and in the West. Sanctions in the event of an invasion of Ukraine will be imposed against banks, writes Reuters =”Reuters learned of US and EU abandonment of plans to disconnect Russia from SWIFT” />
The US and EU are finalizing packages of sanctions against Russia, which will be introduced in the event of its invasion of Ukraine. Disconnecting the country from the SWIFT interbank payment system is not included in the list of possible measures, Reuters writes, citing US and European officials.
According to them, this move was no longer considered after serious objections from European states.
Sanctions are likely to be imposed against large Russian banks and “some Russian oligarchs”, Reuters notes. One of the interlocutors of the agency said that sanctions could affect VTB and Sberbank. In addition, Washington and Brussels plan to limit exports in the field of defense and technology.
«Purpose— develop sanctions that will really hit Russia, but at the same time watch out for the associated risks with the knowledge that sanctions will hit Europe harder,” — one source told Reuters.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said EU diplomat Josep Borrell confirmed to him in a telephone conversation that the “heavy sanctions” package ready against Russia.
In January, the newspaper Das Handelsblatt wrote that the EU and the US had stopped considering the possibility of cutting Russia off from SWIFT. Instead, it was decided to impose sanctions against the largest Russian banks in the event of an invasion.
The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Germany, Friedrich Merz, said that Russia's disconnection from the interbank system would negatively affect the economies of other countries.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that it is de facto impossible to disconnect Russia from SWIFT due to oil and gas supplies. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov also believes that such a measure is not beneficial to anyone.
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