Thierry de Montbrial delivers his analysis

President of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), Thierry de Montbrial presents, on the set of 23 hours of Franceinfo Tuesday, January 25, Europe, emerging from crises, the new issue of his institute’s journal. Asked about the situation in Ukraine and in particular the movements of Russian troops on the border, he declared that “It’s part of the gesticulation that is quite usual in international relations. What you have to see is what Putin’s goals are. Putin’s goals are extremely simple and we have known them for more than twenty years. The Russians don’t want to reconstitute the empire, it doesn’t make any sense. They want there to be no threat in their vicinity. Any great state sounds like this”, he analyzes. According to him, Russia’s objective is to obtain “a new conference on security in Europe which regulates relations between these countries”.

Economic sanctions could be considered against Russia such as depriving it of the SWIFT system, which would disrupt trade relations between the country and Westerners. SWIFT “is a titanic network, an ultra-secure messaging system dedicated to financial transactions and banks. The company was created in 1979, it is now established in Belgium”, explains journalist Jean Chamoulaud. He adds that 11,000 financial institutions use it in 200 countries around the world. 40 million transactions are carried out every day. Thierry de Montbrial believes that if this sanction is taken, European countries will be “the main victims”. “Russia, China etc. will organize themselves”, he assures.