EU blocks 33 Russian banks from SWIFT in 21st sanctions package
REUTERS/Ів Герман
The European Union’s 21st sanctions
package added 33 Russian banks to the list of entities blocked from using the
SWIFT payment system, the European Commission said on July 23.
This brings roughly half of Russia’s banking sector under EU restrictions.
European Commission officials told reporters in Brussels that while 33 banks were newly placed under transaction bans, the measures explicitly include SWIFT, cutting those banks off from global messaging and payment channels.
“Transactions and the exchange of messages worldwide via SWIFT will no longer be possible for these banks,” a commission official said.
The list also includes banks in third countries that have helped circumvent EU sanctions: one in Mongolia, two subsidiaries of Sberbank and VTB in India, and a Chinese bank that still uses domestic Russian payment systems including MIR.
Officials said some banks have been removed from the sanctions list after meeting conditions.
“For example, we managed to lift sanctions on Yelo Bank in Azerbaijan because they disconnected from all Russian systems and adopted other reliable safeguards,” the commission said.
Gazprombank and Raiffeisen Bank were not included in the current list, officials said. Gazprombank was excluded because some legitimate EU–Russia trade is still ongoing.
Another EU official said 94 Russian banks are now under full
sanctions blocking, and that the new measures mean the EU has targeted about
50% of Russia’s banks by number. By assets, revenue and transaction volumes,
those banks represent the upper half of the sector and include most of Russia’s
systemic banks, the official added.
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