Ukraine war: EU decides to exclude Russian banks from Swift

Created: 03/03/2022 04:47

By: Tobias Utz

As a punitive measure against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU member states have agreed to exclude "some Russian banks" from the Swift international payment system.

© Annette Riedl/dpa

During the Ukraine war, the EU member states agreed to exclude Russian banks from the Swift payment system.

The sanctions against Russia in the news ticker.

• Russia's* invasion of Ukraine* is met with fierce opposition.

  Western countries are reacting with sanctions that hit the Russian economy in particular.

• More and more parts of the Russian upper class, especially oligarchs, face the Ukraine conflict* against President Vladimir Putin*.

• The news situation on reactions to the Ukraine war in a compact overview.

+++ 10:50 p.m .:

As a punitive measure against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU member states have agreed to exclude “some Russian banks” from the Swift international payment system.

This was announced by the French EU Council Presidency on Tuesday evening.

At the same time, the 27 member states gave the green light for a ban on the Russian state media RT and Sputnik in the European Union.

The measures are expected to come into force on Wednesday, when they are published in the Official Journal of the EU.

Last week, the EU imposed an initial package of sanctions in response to President Vladimir Putin's recognition of the pro-Russian separatist areas in eastern Ukraine.

After much hesitation, especially from Germany, Ukraine's allies agreed on Saturday to exclude a number of Russian banks from the Swift system.

Among others, the two largest Russian banks Sberbank and VTB are affected.

In the EU, a ban on transactions by the Russian central bank also came into force on Monday.

This means that it can no longer support the ruble exchange rate there with financial transactions and cannot access its foreign currencies, which are internationally estimated at up to 600 billion US dollars (around 530 billion euros).

Putin's war under criticism: UN chief António Guterres condemns the use of heavy weapons

+++ 9.50 p.m .:

UN chief António Guterres has condemned the Russian use of heavy weapons in Ukraine.

“The Secretary General is very concerned about the use of heavy weapons against urban centers in Ukraine.

These weapons can have devastating effects on civilians," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric in New York on Tuesday (March 1, 2022).

According to the United Nations Human Rights Council, at least 136 civilians have been killed in Moscow's war of aggression against Ukraine.

However, Dujarric said there was likely a high number of unreported cases.

Putin's war under criticism: Blinken questions Russia's membership of the Human Rights Council

+++ 17:19:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has questioned Russia's continued membership of the UN Human Rights Council.

If a UN member state tries to "take power over another UN member state, thereby committing horrific human rights abuses and causing massive humanitarian suffering," the question is quite legitimate as to whether that state "can remain on this council," Blinken said Tuesday in a video address to the top UN human rights body in Geneva.

At the same time, he warned that the "humanitarian and human rights crisis" in Ukraine would worsen if Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin "achieved his stated goal" and overthrew the democratically elected government in Kyiv.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has questioned Russia's membership of the UN Human Rights Council.

© SALVATORE DI NOLFI/AFP

Putin's war under criticism: delegates boycott Lavrov's speech

+++ 3.47 p.m .:

Out of solidarity with Ukraine, numerous delegations in Geneva on Tuesday (03/01/2022) boycotted the speeches of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov before UN bodies.

Shortly before the start of the video transmission of the speeches before the UN Human Rights Council and at the UN Disarmament Conference, numerous diplomats demonstratively left the debate room, as an AFP reporter reported.

Update, 12:12 p.m .:

The war with Ukraine triggers criticism of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin worldwide.

Above all, the reports that the Russian army is now using cluster munitions and cluster bombs in the battle for Kyiv and Kharkiv caused horror in places.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of "war crimes".

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov does not see the blame for the escalation in Moscow, but in the West.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, Lavrov said: "The tragedy in Ukraine is the result of the Western handling of the war crimes that occurred after the coup in February 2014." According to Lavrov, the EU member states Germany, Poland and France in particular have agreed guilty.

According to a report by the US news channel CNN, Lavrov spoke in a television speech about "characteristics of a genocide" that would have occurred in Ukraine after 2014 against Russian compatriots.

Ukraine War: Next Oligarch Opposes Vladimir Putin

First report:

Moscow - The sanctions of the West against Russia in the Ukraine conflict are having an effect.

On Monday, the value of the ruble fell to a record low.

The Kremlin is facing the toughest economic sanctions in the country's history.

Not only the domestic trade reacted to this, but also the rich.

Several oligarchs, previously seen as supporters of Vladimir Putin, have publicly called for the war to end.

The banker and three-time dollar billionaire Oleg Tinkov shared a family photo on Instagram that was signed with the following sentence: "We are against this war." His fellow billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Mikhail Friedman had previously publicly spoken out in favor of an end to the bloodshed*.

Now another oligarch has joined in criticizing the invasion.

Media mogul Evgeny Lebedev wrote in an open letter: "President Putin, please end this war."

Lebedev's letter was featured on the front page of Britain's London Evening Standard newspaper on Monday.

Background: the oligarch owns the newspaper.

He also sits in the British House of Lords and holds both Russian and British citizenship.

As a Russian citizen, he is asking Putin to stop the military from "murdering their Ukrainian brothers and sisters," he wrote in the letter.

Europe must be saved from war, said Lebedev.

“As a Russian patriot, I ask you to prevent more young Russian soldiers from dying needlessly.

As a citizen of the world, I ask you to save the world from annihilation.” The continent is “on the brink of world war and the world is on the brink of nuclear catastrophe,” he warned.

Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, which took place on Monday, are a "sign of hope" but not satisfactory.

(tu)