US welcomes Japan's decision to isolate Russia from international financial system
Feb 27, 2022
Washington [US], February 27 : The US on Saturday (local time) welcomed Japan's announcement to isolate Russia from the international financial system - SWIFT.
"We welcome Japan's announcement today that it will stand with the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States to isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies," read White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki statement.
Following Japan's announcement, the entire G7 now supports disconnecting selected Russian banks from SWIFT, restrictions on the Russian Central Bank, and sanctioning key Russian leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin holding Russia accountable for the Ukrainian crisis.
"Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Government of Japan have been leaders in condemning President Putin's attack on Ukraine and we will continue working closely together to impose further severe costs and make Putin's war of choice a strategic failure," added the statement.
The United States and its allies on Saturday (local time) announced to remove Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system in response to Moscow's military operation in Ukraine.
"We commit to ensuring 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," the leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, said in a joint statement.
"We commit to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions," read the statement.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the allies would stop Russia from "using its war chest," by paralysing the assets of its central bank. They also agreed to freeze its transactions and prevent the central bank from liquidating its assets.
She added there would be a crackdown on 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".
"We commit to ensuring that a certain number of Russian banks are removed from SWIFT. We will paralyze the assets of Russia's central bank. This will freeze its transactions," said the president of the European Commission.
SWIFT is the acronym for the Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. The Belgian-based co-operative is used by thousands of financial institutions in over 200 countries, including Russia, and provides a secure messaging system to facilitate cross-border money transfers.
