EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN ANNOUNCES CRIPPLING MEASURES AGAINST RUSSIA

Handout photo released by Ukrainian Police Department Press Service: Firefighters inspect the damage at a building following a rocket attack on Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25, 2022. Inset photo: European Commission President von der Leyen.

The European Union and its partners are working to cripple Putin’s ability to finance his war
machine. Putin embarked on a path aiming to destroy Ukraine, but what he
is also doing, in fact, is destroying the future of his own country.

26 February 2022, Brussels
©European Union 1995-2022, CC BY4.0

Only a few dozen kilometres from the EU’s eastern border, the Russian army is committing barbaric actions during its invasion of Ukraine. It is bombing and launching missile strikes, killing innocent people.

At the same time, the entire world is witnessing the determined and brave resistance by the Ukrainian army and population.

As Russian forces unleash their assault on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, we are resolved to continue imposing costs on Russia that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies.

In coordination with President Biden, President Macron, Bundeskanzler Scholz, Prime Minister Draghi, Prime Minister Trudeau, and Prime Minister Johnson, we considered a significant tightening of our international response.

The European Union and its partners are working to cripple Putin’s ability to finance his war machine.

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication

I will now propose to EU leaders the following measures:

First, we commit to ensuring that a certain number of Russian banks are removed from SWIFT. This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally.

SWIFT is the world’s dominant global interbank payment system. Cutting banks off will stop them from conducting most of their financial transactions worldwide and effectively block Russian exports and imports.

Second, we will stop Putin from using his war chest. We will paralyse the assets of Russia’s central bank. This will freeze its transactions. And it will make it impossible for the Central Bank to liquidate its assets.

And finally, we will work to prohibit Russian oligarchs from using their financial assets on our markets.

All of these measures will significantly harm Putin’s ability to finance his war. They will have an eroding impact on the economy.

Putin embarked on a path aiming to destroy Ukraine, but what he is also doing, in fact, is destroying the future of his own country.

UPDATES: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/sanctions/restrictive-measures-ukraine-crisis/

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Note:
The European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union operating as a cabinet government comprising the 27 members of the European Union. The Commission is headed by a President, currently Ursula von der Leyen. The Commission’s administrative body is manned by some 32,000 European civil servants.

Images
Featured image: Guidepost montage. Ukrainian firefighters at building in Kyiv attacked by Russian rocket/photo handout by  Ukrainian Police Department Press Service. Inset photo of Ursula von der Leyen/US Secretary of Defense, CC BY4.0, cropped and framed.
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