EU bans 7 Russian banks from SWIFT network

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Union on Wednesday officially adopted sanctions against Russia, including exclusion of seven Russian banks from the SWIFT international money transfer system and a ban on state-owned broadcasters Russia Today and Sputnik.

The Council of the European Union said in a statement that the EU decided to “prohibit the provision of specialized financial messaging services, which are used to exchange financial data (SWIFT),” to seven Russian banks.

The sanctions involve the Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Rossiya Bank, Sovcombank, VNESHECONOMBANK (VEB), and VTB BANK.

They came “in view of the Russian Federation’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine,” the statement said.

The decision also banned EU operators to invest or cooperate with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, as well as to sell or transfer euro-denominated banknotes to Russia.

With a separate decision, the EU suspended the broadcasting of Sputnik and Russia Today, including the English, German, French, and Spanish channels of the latter.

“Systematic information manipulation and disinformation by the Kremlin is applied as an operational tool in its assault on Ukraine,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell commented on the decision.

He said the decision is another “important step against Putin’s manipulation operation and turning off the tap for Russian state-controlled media in the EU.”

Since Russia’s war on Ukraine began Feb. 24, it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK and US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Russia.

The EU adopted last week three sanctions packages against Russia, targeting among others President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Russian banking sector, and key state-owned companies.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially signed the Eastern European country’s request to join the EU.

At least 650,000 people fled to the EU from Ukraine since the start of the Russian war, according to the European Commission’s estimates.

So far, at least 136 civilians, including 13 children, have been killed and 400 others, including 26 children, injured in Ukraine, according to UN figures.