The EU is disconnecting a number of Russian banks from SWIFT. This was announced by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
"This will effectively block Russian exports and imports - banks will not be able to conduct international transactions," she said.
In addition, the European Union and the White House have decided to limit the issuance of "golden passports" to Russia's elites and impose sanctions on Russia's Central Bank.
"We are paralyzing the assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. This will freeze its transactions and deprive the Central Bank of the opportunity to liquidate its assets," said Ursula von der Leyen.
"We will work to prevent Russian oligarchs from using their financial assets in our markets," she said.
We will remind that earlier it became known about the beginning of carrying out technical preparation of disconnection of Russia from SWIFT. SWIFT, meaning the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, is controlled by the National Bank of Belgium and representatives of central banks from the United States, Britain, the EU, Japan, Russia, China and others. It delivers secure messages to more than 11,000 financial institutions and companies in more than 200 countries and territories.
SWIFT has blocked access to the country only once in its history: in 2012, with the help of an EU directive, it blocked Iran as part of a series of measures aimed at curbing the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.