(Panama) The European Union’s sixth sanctions package against Russia will include the withdrawal of “other banks” from the Swift transaction system, its high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, said on Monday. Panama.
Posted at 11:21 p.m.
These sanctions will concern “the banking sector, there will be other Russian banks that will come out of Swift”, and “in the energy sector, we are working to prepare proposals that will limit energy imports from Russia, in particular oil,” the diplomat said at a press conference.
Several European diplomatic sources had indicated this weekend that the most important Russian bank, Sberbank, which represents 37% of the market, should thus be excluded from Swift.
This interbank system is an essential cog in global finance, allowing transactions to be communicated quickly and securely.
The European Commission is expected to propose a 6and sanctions package that would include a timetable for phasing out Russian oil imports, which account for 30% of European Union oil imports.
If the 27 agree on this measure, the cessation of purchases of petroleum and petroleum products from Russia will be gradual, over six to eight months, but with measures with immediate effect, in particular a tax on transport by ships- tanks, said a European official.
Mr. Borrell is in Panama to take part in a meeting with foreign ministers from Central America and the Caribbean on Tuesday to discuss the consequences of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in the region.