War in Ukraine | Germany criticized for refusing to exclude Russia from Swift

(Berlin) After the controversy around the Nord-Stream II gas pipeline, Germany finds itself again under criticism over sanctions against Russia, because of its refusal to exclude Moscow from a key cog in global finance, Swift.

While all of its European partners seem to have finally accepted this drastic measure in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine, Berlin is still hesitant, fearing for its Russian gas and coal supplies.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, visiting Berlin on Saturday, described Germany’s attitude towards this interbank exchange platform as “concrete selfishness”.

“I came here, to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, to shake consciences, to shake the conscience of Germany,” he said.

In the midst of a battle to take control of Kiev, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky also urged Berlin on Saturday to have the “courage” to block Russia’s access to Swift.

“Virtually all EU countries are already in favor of excluding Russia from Swift,” Zelensky said.

Supply

Swift is one of the largest banking and financial messaging networks. It allows interbank settlements between institutions around the world and prevents Germany, for example, from having to pay for its Russian gas in cash.

Excluding a country from this system is considered an “atomic weapon” in financial matters. Because disconnecting a State from Swift also means preventing its own banks from making transactions with the banks of the punished country.

As a result, Germany, which imports more than half (55%) of its gas from Russia, is very skeptical and fears that it will no longer be able to settle its energy payments.

The suspension of Swift “would mean that there is a high risk that Germany will no longer be supplied with gas, raw materials” from Russia), Finance Minister Christian Lindner said this week.

Berlin also judges that the measure risks being ineffective, Moscow having forged in parallel close ties with China in particular.

“I fear that Mr. Putin has long since put in place an alternative to this Swift system,” the minister added.

flip-flop

Arguments that do not convince and annoy many of Berlin’s European partners. Especially since several countries, also heavily dependent on Russian hydrocarbons and initially skeptical, have finally taken the plunge in recent days.

On Friday, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer did an about-face. After describing the measure as “not very effective”, he now pleads “in favor of excluding Russia from Swift”.

The head of the Italian government Mario Draghi promised the Ukrainian president on Saturday his full support for the sanctions “including those concerning Swift”.

And the Hungarian government, initially presented as hostile, firmly denied on Saturday that it opposed Russia’s exclusion from the Swift system, its Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto even speaking of “fake news” on his Facebook account.

“We have never come out against a proposed sanction, we have not blocked anything,” he said.

From now on, Germany seems very alone, when it thought it had extinguished the controversies surrounding its dependence on Russia and its excessive complacency with regard to the Kremlin by suspending the German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream II, in the crosshairs from Kyiv, the United States and Eastern European partners.

To respond to criticism, Berlin is trying to show its solidarity with the rest of NATO. The government announced on Friday the dispatch of a company of its army to Slovakia, a country bordering Ukraine.

It has also dispatched a reconnaissance ship to the Baltic Sea, plans to send Patriot air-to-surface missile batteries to the eastern flank and finally plans to deploy 350 soldiers as reinforcements within the framework of the NATO mission that Germany commands Lithuania.