The Elysée indicates in a press release on Saturday evening that a “strengthening of economic and financial sanctions” will be put in place against Russia, after the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.
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France will strengthen the sanctions already in place against Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. The Élysée announced it on Saturday February 26, in the evening, after a new defense council in the afternoon around Emmanuel Macron. According to the press release sent by the Élysée, France “acted a strengthening of economic and financial sanctions in coordination with the Europeans and the Americans”.
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This reinforcement will notably go through new measures against Moscow “regarding the Swift facility”, to cut Russia off from this international interbank system. The exclusion of Russia from the Swift system has been on the table for several days. If it is demanded by the Ukrainian president and certain countries like Lithuania, other nations more economically dependent on trade with Russia, such as Germany, are more reluctant to the idea of such a radical sanction. The financial assets of Russian personalities will also be frozen. On Friday, the 27 countries of the European Union have already decided to freeze the assets of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov.
France also has “decided the additional delivery of defense equipment to the Ukrainian authorities as well as fuel support”. Earlier in the day, President Volodymyr Zelensky had indeed hinted on Twitter that Emmanuel Macron had raised the subject of material aid from France to Ukraine. Until now, the President of the Republic had only announced “military reinforcements” of France within NATO to “participate in the defense of member countries”. France will also put in place measures to combat “propaganda from Russian influencers and media on European soil”.