The European Union has agreed to exclude seven Russian banks from the SWIFT system of international financial exchange

EU ambassadors have agreed to exclude seven Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system, but The country’s largest bank, Sberbank PJSC, and one part-owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom PJSC have been exempted from the action.

VTB Bank PJSC and Bank Rossiya are among the banks that may face a ban on access to A messaging system that allows transactions of trillions of dollars around the world, According to officials familiar with the decision. Actions are expected to be taken overnight.

The other institutions on the EU list are Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank PJSC, Sovcombank PJSC and VEB.RF, the officials said, and demanded anonymity because the decision was confidential.

Two people said some countries, including Poland, had pushed for more banks to be included in the measure. The list can still be changed before it officially enters into force.

RT and Sputnik are banned

On the other hand,The European Union banned Russian state broadcasters RT and Sputnik from broadcasting in the bloc on Tuesday.As reported by the Presidency of the European Union. the scale that It will go into effect on Wednesday After being published in the Official Journal of the European Union, it comes as Brussels is ramping up its sanctions regime against Moscow in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Representatives of 27 EU member states also agreed to ban participation in projects financed by the RDIF sovereign fund.

The United States and its Western allies have tried to paralyze the banking sector and the Russian currency with a barrage of sanctions. Among them is the exclusion of some Russian banks from the SWIFT messaging system, thereby isolating them from the rest of the world.

The SWIFT system allows banks to communicate quickly and securely about transactions, so excluding Russia is aimed at preventing it from trading with most countries in the world.

Western measures banning dealings with the Russian Central Bank also helped push the country’s economy into turmoil. The ruble has fallen 27% against the dollar since the beginning of the year and is trading at more than 100 rubles per US unit, its weakest level ever. Thus, Russians are flocking to cryptocurrencies, which operate on a decentralized network and are therefore not directly affected by the sanctions.

With information from Bloomberg and Agence France-Presse

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