'Devastating' Move: U.S. Weighs Sanctions On Russia's Central Bank As Germany Backs 'Targeted' Removal Of Russia From SWIFT

In "Devastating" Move, US Weighs Sanctions On Russia's Central Bank As Germany Backs "Targeted" Removal Of Russia From SWIFT

TYLER DURDEN

Following a full-court press by western nations, the handful of European holdouts - those most reliant on Russian energy supplies and continued Russian capital flows, such as Germany, Hungary, Italy and Cyprus - who have been adverse to expelling Russia from the SWIFT electronic payment-messaging system, are one by one folding on their objections.

Overnight, Italy joined the growing consensus seeking to kick Russia out of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication global banking system to punish it for the invasion of Ukraine as the European Union weighs up the impact of such an action. Also on Saturday, Poland's prime minister said he had spoken again with his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, who had assured him of Budapest's support for far-reaching sanctions against Russia.

"I talked today again with Prime Minister of Hungary V. (Victor – PAP) Orban. Once again he assured me of support for far-reaching sanctions directed towards Russia. Also including blocking the SWIFT system," Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter.

Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jabłoński also said on Saturday he had spoken to Hungarian Ambassador Orsolya Zsuzsanna Kovacs and that "Hungary will not block any sanctions against Russia, also including concerning the SWIFT system."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday that Cyprus, which it was thought may have held out against the move, had confirmed it would not block the decision to withdraw Russia from SWIFT.

Finally, Bloomberg reports that Germany has "upended years of policy" and agreed to supply weapons to Kyiv and "look into ways" to shut out Russia from the SWIFT financial messaging system, which however is still a long way away from agreeing to expel Russia.

The German government said in a statement Saturday that it has agreed to the supply of 400 German-made rocket propelled grenades to Ukraine via the Netherlands, along with 14 armored personnel carriers, as well as 1000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles. It will also supply 10,000 tonnes of fuel via Poland. Further supplies to Ukraine are currently being considered, it said.

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