The European Commission announced the exclusion of several Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), in order to hamper Russia’s ability to make cross-border payments.
In a joint statement made public by the European Commission, The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States highlighted their common interest in defending Ukraine from the war against Russia:
“We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin.”
While condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s siege maneuver in Ukraine, the EU Commission promised to undertake a series of measures to isolate Russia from the international financial system.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced five proactive measures against Russian authorities, starting with the removal of an undisclosed number of Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system.
First, we commit to ensuring that a certain number of Russian banks are removed from SWIFT.⁰
It will stop them from operating worldwide and effectively block Russian exports and imports.– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 26, 2022
First, we are committed to ensuring that a certain number of Russian banks are excluded from SWIFT.
This will prevent them from operating around the world and will effectively block Russian exports and imports.
In addition to severing Russia’s ties with SWIFT, the EU Commission will “freeze the assets of Russia’s central bank,” creating another financial barrier for the Russian central bank to liquidate assets.. Regarding the third measure, the EU Commission stated:
“We are committed to taking steps to limit the sale of citizenships – so-called golden passports – that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of our countries and access our financial systems.”
The EU Commission will shortly launch a transatlantic task force to ensure the effective implementation of all sanctions, whose main objective is to freeze the assets abroad of Russian officials, elites and their relatives.. As a fifth step, the Commission plans to increase coordination against disinformation and other forms of hybrid warfare.
As world markets continue to impose new financial restrictions on Russia, a Cointelegraph report on Feb. 24 highlights how Russian billionaires could potentially circumvent any sanctions imposed by world leaders by using cryptocurrencies.
One thing to hear this afternoon is whether these sanctions will include Russia’s exclusion from the SWIFT messaging system, which would lock it out of almost all international financial transactions.
(Except crypto.) https://t.co/x952GNxbah
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) February 24, 2022
One thing to hear this afternoon is whether these sanctions will include Russia’s exclusion from the SWIFT messaging system, which would lock it out of almost all international financial transactions.
“If a wealthy individual is concerned that their accounts may be frozen due to sanctions, they can simply hold their wealth in Bitcoin to be protected from such actions.”
Now that Russian banks are at risk of being banned from SWIFT’s international financial network, cryptocurrencies may hold the key for wealthy individuals to evade sanctionsaccording to the founder and CEO of Quantum Economics, Mati Greenspan.
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