Sanctions against Russia: Foreign ministers of the G7 countries confer

Created: 02/27/2022, 04:48 am

By: Johannes Nuß, Karolin Schäfer, Max Schäfer

The federal government has promised arms deliveries to Ukraine.

In addition, Russia's decoupling from the Swift system has been decided

• Because of Russia's attack on Ukraine*, the West decides on sanctions.

• Now Russia* will be excluded from the banking communication network Swift.

• Germany and other countries pledge arms supplies to Ukraine.

+++ 4:06 a.m .:

Because of the Ukraine conflict, the foreign ministers of the G7 countries will meet online for an emergency meeting on Sunday.

Germany is also part of the G7 group.

The meeting was announced by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Japanese TV.

Ukraine conflict: Russia's invasion is 'a unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force'

Hayashi wants to reconfirm the cooperation with the other partners "to improve the situation," it said.

Russia's invasion was "a unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force," the Japanese foreign minister was quoted as saying.

Russia's actions are "absolutely unacceptable because it clearly violates international law".

Japan had joined the US and Europe in imposing sanctions on Russia.

Update from Sunday, February 27, 12:50 a.m .:

The UN Security Council meets on Sunday for a special session about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The United States and Albania have presented a draft resolution to convene the UN General Assembly, the AFP news agency learned from diplomatic circles on Saturday.

This decision is to be voted on on Sunday afternoon (9 p.m. CET).

Sanctions against Russia: UN Security Council meets for special session on Sunday

According to the information, a special procedure is used for voting, so that none of the five permanent members of the Security Council can veto the resolution.

If accepted, the General Assembly would be convened within the next 24 hours.

+++ 11:11 p.m.:

Germany and Western allies have decided to exclude Russian financial institutions from the Swift banking communications network.

This was announced by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit on Saturday evening in Berlin.

The decision was made by the United States, France, Canada, Italy, Great Britain, the European Commission and Germany.

Sanctions against Russia: Russian banks will be banned from the Swift payment system

All Russian banks that have already been sanctioned by the international community are affected.

If necessary, other Russian banks should also be added.

This should cut off these institutes from international financial flows, which would massively restrict their global activities.

In addition, according to the federal government, the countries decided to further restrict the possibilities of the Russian central bank to support the ruble exchange rate with international financial transactions.

The sanctions adopted were also aimed at individuals and entities in Russia and elsewhere who supported the war against Ukraine.

In particular, the possibility for wealthy Russians to obtain a so-called golden passport and thus European citizenship for themselves and their family members should be ended.

Sanctions against Russia: More sanctions will follow if Russia does not end its attack on Ukraine

In addition, a working group with representatives of the USA and the European Union should be set up to ensure the speedy implementation of the sanctions and to freeze the assets of sanctioned individuals, their families and companies.

The countries therefore emphasized their willingness to take further measures should Russia not end its attack against Ukraine and thus against the European peace order.

+++ 10.30 p.m .:

In the conflict with Russia, the federal government is preparing to block German airspace for Russian machines.

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing supports the closure and has ordered everything to be prepared for it, his ministry announced on Saturday evening.

Against the background of the Ukraine war, several EU countries have already closed their airspace to Russian aircraft.

The Federal Republic has not been among them so far.

Since the end of the Cold War, machines from Germany to Asia have often taken routes that lead through Russian airspace. 

+++ 10:02 p.m .:

Against the background of the Ukraine war, Lufthansa initially no longer flies to or via Russia.

Due to “the current and emerging regulatory situation”, this applies for seven days, the group announced on Saturday evening.

Flights to Russia are therefore suspended.

"Flights that are in Russian airspace will leave it again shortly."

Aircraft of air carriers with licenses issued by the Russian Federation are banned from flying.

(Archive photo) © Marina Lystseva/dpa

+++ 9:20 p.m .:

 The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will block their airspace for Russian aircraft because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The ban will apply to aircraft operated by air carriers with licenses issued by the Russian Federation from midnight on Sunday.

The closure of the airspace of the three EU and NATO countries will take place simultaneously and indefinitely, the Ministry of Transport in Vilnius announced on Saturday.

There should be exceptions for emergency landings and humanitarian flights.

Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria had previously closed their airspace to Russian aircraft.

It is expected that the other EU countries will follow suit shortly.

Sanctions against Russia – Swift system decoupling imminent

+++ 9:00 p.m .:

The EU and the USA want to exclude Russia from the Swift international banking communication system after the invasion of Ukraine.

According to information from the dpa, this could happen this weekend.

There will be a video conference on Saturday evening with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

In addition to further sanctions, other punitive measures should also be discussed, the dpa reported.

Accordingly, the foreign assets of Russian oligarchs could be frozen.

Possible sanctions will also focus on Russian banks and the Russian central bank in particular.

The aim is to prevent Russia from using its foreign exchange reserves to finance the war against Ukraine.

US government supplies anti-tank guided missiles to Ukraine

+++ 8.30 p.m .:

For the “immediate defense” of Ukraine, the US government around Joe Biden * Kiev has now secured up to 350 million US dollars (312 million euros) available.

As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken explained, the military support is intended to help defend against the Russian threat.

In addition, the USA* provides Javelin-type anti-tank guided missiles, as a representative of the US Department of Defense explained to the dpa.

Overall, the United States has already delivered many weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.

This means that American military aid has totaled around one billion US dollars since last year.

Meanwhile, Alexander Dobrindt, head of the CSU state group, welcomed the federal government's decision to supply anti-tank weapons and surface-to-air missiles.

"We must not watch as a partially defenseless but highly motivated population is crushed," said Dobrindt on Saturday evening in Berlin according to dpa information.

“We do not supply weapons to wage war.

We supply weapons to make negotiations possible," he added.

Putin's war: anti-tank weapons and surface-to-air missiles for Ukraine

+++ 8 p.m.:

1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 surface-to-air missiles are being delivered to Ukraine from Bundeswehr stocks.

And as soon as possible, as announced by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has now also commented on this.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine marks a turning point.

It threatens our entire post-war order,” declared the Chancellor.

"In this situation, it is our duty to do our best to support Ukraine in defending itself against Vladimir Putin's invading army." Germany stands closely by Ukraine's side.

The German government had previously approved arms deliveries to Ukraine for NATO partners the Netherlands and Estonia.

The Netherlands is thus supplying the Ukraine with 400 Panzerfausts made in Germany and Estonia with artillery pieces from old GDR stocks.

In addition to arms delivery to Ukraine: Federal government wants to restrict Swift

But that's not all: in addition to the EU sanctions package, Russia is now also to be excluded from the Swift system.

In recent days, Russia's exclusion from the international payments network has been described as the “Western's sharpest sword”.

The demand was initially rejected by several European countries, including Germany.

This caused a lack of understanding among some, such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

He had repeatedly called for Russia to be excluded from the Swift banking communication system.

Now there are signs of a change of course here as well.

"They will now be completed at the highest level," said Federal Finance Minister Christian Linder (FDP) on Saturday evening of the German Press Agency.

Meanwhile, Germany is working with its international partners to isolate Russia.

However, due to the scope of the decisions, this requires great precision.

Putin's war: Russia's decoupling from the Swift system planned

+++ 7.30 p.m .:

After the federal government’s change of course to deliver weapons to Ukraine, work is apparently also being done on decoupling Russia from the Swift system.

The dpa reported, citing the information provided by several ministers.

"We are working on decoupling Russia from the Swift system in such a way that collateral damage remains as small as possible," said Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) on Twitter.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Economics Minister Robert Habeck * (both Green) formulated a similar tweet that was distributed by the Foreign Office channel.

“At the same time, we are working flat out on how to limit the collateral damage of decoupling from SWIFT in such a way that it affects the right people.

What we need is a targeted and functional restriction of SWIFT.”

As a consequence of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia is to be excluded from the international banking communication system Swift.

This would cut Russian banks off from the global financial system.

Federal government supplies anti-tank weapons and surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine

+++ 19.10:

Germany is now delivering weapons from the Bundeswehr stocks to Ukraine.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced on Saturday that the Ukrainian armed forces are being supported with 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 "Stinger" surface-to-air missiles.

+++ 6.43 p.m .:

The federal government has approved Estonia for the delivery of several artillery pieces from old GDR stocks to Ukraine.

The German Press Agency learned this from government circles on Saturday.

+++ 5.45 p.m .:

There seems to be a change in the federal government’s strategy.

Contrary to previous assumptions, the German government has approved the delivery of 400 German-made anti-tank weapons to the Ukraine.

This was announced by the German Press Agency (dpa).

The information should come from government circles.

So far, the German government has rejected all exports of lethal weapons to Ukraine on principle because it is a crisis area.

Ukraine has been demanding the delivery of such weapons and other armaments from Germany for months.

So far, the federal government had only promised 5,000 helmets.

Ukraine conflict: Baerbock comments on arms delivery

In addition to anti-tank weapons, the export of 14 armored vehicles with special protection to Ukraine was also approved.

This was reported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection.

Such vehicles are intended for personal protection and, if necessary, for evaluation purposes.

At the same time, it is planned to deliver 10,000 tons of fuel to Ukraine via Poland.

“After Russia's shameless attack, Ukraine must be able to defend itself.

She has an inalienable right to self-defense.

The federal government is therefore also supporting Ukraine in providing urgently needed material," said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock * and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, according to the dpa.

Ukraine war: Poland demands more toughness from Germany on sanctions against Russia

+++ 16:26:

The Polish head of government Mateusz Morawiecki has denounced the "stone selfishness" of some countries, including Germany, in the Ukraine conflict.

At his meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Morawiecki said on Saturday to Polish journalists in Berlin that he wanted to "shake up Germany's conscience" so that it would finally decide on sanctions against Russia that were "really overwhelming".

"Only rapid and severe sanctions" could stop Russia's aggression against Ukraine, says Morawiecki.

The Polish Prime Minister specifically demanded that not only the Nord Stream 2* gas pipeline be stopped, but also Nord Stream 1.

In addition, Russia must be excluded from the bank communication network Swift.

The Pole commented sarcastically on the previous German aid to Ukraine: “Five thousand helmets?

You must be joking.”

Russia sanctions: Swift ban?

Selenskyj puts pressure on Scholz

First report from Saturday, February 26th, 2022, 3:21 p.m.:

Kiev/Berlin – After the outbreak of the Ukraine war, western states introduced sanctions against Russia.

However, a possible punitive measure has not yet been taken: Russia's exclusion from the international banking communication network Swift, which is necessary for foreign trade.

Great Britain*, among others, is in favor of this, but there are reservations in the EU.

In view of the fighting for the capital Kiev, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is calling for consistent action by the EU.

Specifically, he calls on Germany and Hungary to support the exclusion of Russia from Swift.

Zelenskyy said in a video message on Saturday (February 26, 2022) that he hoped that Berlin and Budapest “will have the courage” to join a similar demand from numerous other European countries.

"There is already almost full support from EU countries to decouple Russia from Swift," Zelenskyy said.

At the same time, he again called for Ukraine to join the EU.

EU disagrees on sanctions against Russia: Swift ban coming?

Within the EU, there was initially disagreement about the Swift exclusion as a sanction against Russia.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn defended the move on Friday (February 25, 2022).

"We cannot provoke another world trade crisis alongside this crisis that we are having now," said Asselborn.

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also spoke out against the measure.

Unlike the sanctioning of individual banks, decoupling Russia from the Swift system would have a “broad effect” and affect the population.

The aim, however, is to sanction those responsible for the "bloodshed".

Sanctions because of the Ukraine war: Swift exclusion of Russia more and more likely

However, the resistance of individual EU states against the Swift exclusion of Russia as a sanction in the Ukraine conflict* is decreasing.

According to the social democratic party leader Enrico Letta, Italy is now in favor of this measure.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi now supports the exclusion.

Draghi himself did not comment on this, but let it be known that Italy fully supports the EU's line on sanctions against Russia, "including those affecting Swift".

Earlier, Ukraine's President Zelenskyy tweeted that during a phone call, Draghi told him that Italy supported Russia's detachment from Swift.

In Germany, too, the pressure on the federal government to agree to the exclusion of Russia from Swift is growing.

An exclusion of Russia from Swift is conceivable if the EU members collectively agree that the pressure on Russia can be further increased, Finance Minister Christian Lindner* (FDP*) said on Friday (February 25, 2022) at the meeting of EU finance ministers and Minister of Finance declared.

Ukraine crisis: pressure on Scholz because of Russia's Swift exclusion

In his own party, too, the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz* (SPD) is growing because of his no to Russia's exclusion from Swift.

Juso chairwoman Jessica Rosenthal called on Saturday (February 26, 2022) to clear the way for this sanction.

“We must not shy away from imposing all sanctions at our disposal.

This also includes the exclusion of Russia from Swift, ”said the head of the SPD youth association* of the German Press Agency.

“We can really hurt the Russian government with this.

We should meet the demands of our Eastern European partner countries here.” (ms with dpa/AFP)