EU foreign ministers will discuss the possibility of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT

The EU foreign ministers at a meeting on Thursday, 29 in January, will discuss the possibility of disconnecting Russia from the international payment system SWIFT, as well as a list of new sanctions against companies and banks in the country. Reports about it on Bloomberg.

In particular, in Brussels, they are studying the possibility of expanding the list of goods and technologies, the export of which to Russia is planned to be stopped. In addition, the European Commission may prohibit the purchase of Russian sovereign debt, as well as expand the list of individuals whose assets in Europe can be frozen.

The introduction of new sanctions must be approved by all 28 countries in the European Union. However, according to experts, reaching a consensus can be complicated due to the victory of the left coalition of SYRIZA in the parliamentary elections in Greece.

On January 29, EU foreign ministers will also discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine.

The official representative of the head of European diplomacy Federica Mogherini Maya Kotsyanich refused to predict what decision regarding Moscow will be made at the upcoming summit. She said that sanctions can be both weakened and strengthened.

Earlier, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier did not rule out the strengthening of anti-Russian measures in connection with the recent shelling of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol (Kiev accused Moscow of involvement in this attack). “The ongoing offensive in the direction of Mariupol testifies to a qualitative change in the situation, and therefore we need to respond,” said Steinmeier.

The administration of the United States also calls for the expansion of sanctions against Russia. According to United States Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Washington has a lot of tools to put economic pressure on Moscow. However, he did not specify his statement.

At the economic forum in Davos, the head of VTB Bank, Andrei Kostin, said that disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT system would lead to a sharp deterioration in Moscow’s relations with the West. He suggested that in this case, the US ambassadors to Russia and Russia to the United States could leave the capitals of the two countries.

In December last year, the Central Bank provided Russian banks with a new service for the transfer of financial messages in the SWIFT format when conducting operations within the country. It was introduced to “ensure uninterrupted operation and security” of the Russian financial system, representatives of the regulator explained.

For the first time, the European Parliament called for Russia to be disconnected from the SWIFT system in September last year. The company itself then stated that it did not intend to do this, writes Lenta.ru.