WASHINGTON — The U.S. and its European allies agreed Saturday to bar some Russian banks from the SWIFT international network and to sanction its central bank, ratcheting up the West’s response to Moscow’s intensifying and unprovoked war against Ukraine.
“Russia’s war represents an assault on fundamental international rules and norms that have prevailed since the Second World War, which we are committed to defending. We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin,” the leaders of the Group of Seven countries wrote in a joint statement that outlined the new measures.
“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.”
Some European nations, Biden said Friday, weren’t ready to bar Russia from SWIFT, a secure international messaging network used by more than 11,000 banks around the world. As Russian missiles and tanks continued to pummel Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv and other areas of the country Saturday, their position had shifted.
The move, the G-7 leaders wrote in their statement, “will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally.”
Additionally, the leaders committed “to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions.”
There is little precedent for such a move, which is a major escalation of the West’s economic pressure campaign against Russian President Vladimir Putin. There is a risk the Russian autocrat may seek to retaliate against NATO countries for the new sanctions.
The G-7 countries, all democracies, also vowed to limit the ability of Russian oligarchs with ties to Putin’s government to buy citizenship in other countries and to access their financial systems. They also announced the creation of a task force to oversee the implementation of the new sanctions.
Coming on the heels of sanctions imposed this week against several Russian banks, wealthy individuals and Putin himself, Saturday’s actions underscored again just how unified the world’s most powerful democracies remain in response to Russian aggression. It also revealed they appear to be growing in their conviction that Putin must be punished for launching a brazen land war in an effort to overthrow Ukraine’s government.
