‘We need to make sure no Russian bank has access to SWIFT’

The West needs to make sure no Russian bank has access to the SWIFT messaging system, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Thursday during a visit to Lithuania.

“We worked with the US the EU and G7 to cut off funding for Putin’s war machine, kicking Russian banks after the financial system … we need to go further. We need to make sure no Russian bank has access to SWIFT,” Truss told a news conference.

Germany and its Western allies agreed to cut Russia out of the SWIFT global payment system

, a spokesperson for the German government said on February 27, in a third sanctions package aimed at halting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions, agreed with the United States, France, Canada, Italy, Great Britain and the European Commission also include limiting the ability of Russia’s central bank to support the rouble.

The will also end the “golden passports” for wealthy Russians and their families and will target individuals and institutions in Russia and elsewhere that supports the war against Ukraine, the spokesperson had said.