U.S. and Allies Declare Economic Cold War, Kick Russian Banks out of SWIFT System

In a move that is described my Washngton analysts as an "economic Cold War" against Russia in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine, the White House on Saturday announced that the United States and allies will kick certain Russian banks out of a major international banking system, TURAN's U.S, correspondent reports.

"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" - the leaders of the U.S., the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada noted in a joint statement.

"We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin," reads the statement.

Specifically, the Biden administration and European allies agreed to undertake the following measures:

1) ensure that selected Russian banks are removed from the SWIFT messaging system. This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally.

2) impose restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions.

3) act against the people and entities who facilitate the war in Ukraine and the harmful activities of the Russian government. Specifically, we commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship—so called golden passports—that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems.

4) launch this coming week a transatlantic task force that will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist within our jurisdictions.

As a part of this effort "we are committed to employing sanctions and other financial and enforcement measures on additional Russian officials and elites close to the Russian government, as well as their families, and their enablers to identify and freeze the assets they hold in our jurisdictions." - leaders noted.

"We will also engage other governments and work to detect and disrupt the movement of ill-gotten gains, and to deny these individuals the ability to hide their assets in jurisdictions across the world."

"Finally, we will step up our coordination against disinformation and other forms of hybrid warfare" - the leaders noted.

"We stand with the Ukrainian people in this dark hour...  Even beyond the measures we are announcing today, we are prepared to take further measures to hold Russia to account for its attack on Ukraine," the leaders said in the statement.

If a Russian bank that's been removed from SWIFT wants to make a transaction with a bank located outside of Russia, it will need to use the telephone or a fax machine, a senior administration official told reporters.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.