Russia may be disconnected from the international system for transmitting financial information and making payments SWIFT due to the detention of Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker said this, Voice of America reported on Thursday, December 6.
“People call this the “nuclear” option (disconnection from SWIFT - ed.). This will result in costs for everyone involved. Big costs for Russia, but also big costs for the allies,” Volcker said.
He recalled that SWIFT is regulated by Belgian laws and speeds up international transactions by sending payment orders to financial institutions in different countries.
“Ultimately, we must keep this option open because we cannot continue to watch Russia take further aggressive steps against its neighbors, such as this,” Volker said.
In addition, the United States' European allies could ban Russian ships coming from Crimea or the Sea of Azov from entering European ports. According to Volcker, such a proposal was recently made by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the secretary general of the ruling Christian Democratic Union of Germany, who may become the successor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“This is a very strong and very original step,” Volker emphasized. “We’ll see if they go for it.”
The American diplomat noted that “the United States wants to take such measures to put pressure on Russia and come to a point when Russia wants to negotiate to develop a solution.”
Let us remind you that the Ukrainians have been demanding the disconnection of the Russian Federation from SWIFT since the spring of 2014.