London
The UK government is leading the charge in Europe to exclude Russia from the worldwide SWIFT banking network, as part of tough sanctions designed to deliver a financial blow to President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine.
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is the world’s main banking messaging service which links around 11,000 banks and institutions in more than 200 countries, including India.
Based in Belgium, the system is considered central to the smooth functioning of global finances and Russia’s exclusion from it would hit the country hard.
However, while Canada and some American senators are in line with the UK on this, there is reluctance within the European Union (EU) over what is seen as a last resort move that will impact oil and gas payments.
The Prime Minister urged leaders to take immediate action against SWIFT to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime, Downing Street said with reference to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s meeting with NATO leaders on Friday.
This was followed up during a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau soon after, when Johnson reiterated the same message.
The Prime Minister said allies needed to take immediate action on SWIFT, and the leaders discussed further options to increase coordinated economic pressure on Russia, notes the Downing Street readout of the call.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is believed to be on a diplomatic mission in Europe to convince allies to exclude Russia from this key banking system, which had last collectively sanctioned Iran in 2012.
Britain wants the SWIFT system to be turned off for Russia. But unfortunately the SWIFT system is not in our control it’s not a unilateral decision, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the BBC.
He noted: When you pay Russia for its gas, it probably goes through the Swift system, for example. It is based in Belgium. It has a number of partners that control it, or nation states.
