Von der Leyen: EU will “paralyze” Russian central bank assets – Politics – World – NOVA News

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that Brussels would propose a freeze on Russia’s central bank assets over a serious escalation of sanctions against Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine. Von der Leyen also said the EU would exclude “certain” Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system in response to a key request from Kiev.

She spoke after a video conference with the leaders of the United States, Germany, France, Italy and Canada, called to coordinate the West’s response to the Russian invasion.

The idea has been agreed with the authorities in the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Britain and Canada, EC President Ursula von der Leyen said in an extraordinary address.

“The leadership of the commission and the mentioned countries condemns the attack on the people of Ukraine. We support the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainians in their heroic resistance to the Russian invasion. “We will seek responsibility from Russia and together we will make this war a strategic failure for Putin,” the statement said.

Kiril Ananiev: Removing Russia from the SWIFT system is a sensible move

Von der Leyen said he would propose new measures to isolate Russia from the international financial system and the Western economy. They will also be directed to the Russian Central Bank so that it cannot intervene to limit the consequences of the sanctions already imposed on Moscow by resorting to its international reserves, BTA correspondent in Brussels Nikolai Zhelyazkov reports.

Restrictions on “golden passports” issued to Russians by EU countries are expected to be imposed, BTA reported.

It is proposed that an international group be set up next week to monitor the implementation of Western sanctions and to search for and establish the assets of those included in the sanctions lists. They are ready to supplement them, including the names of people from the families of those already sanctioned. It is planned to trace the property of those affected so that it is not transferred anywhere in the world.

Measures also include joint action against disinformation and hybrid threats. The EC will propose that EU countries approve the measures, expressing readiness to propose additional restrictions to make Russia responsible for the attack on Ukraine.

Ukraine is grateful for the latest series of financial sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and its allies, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal was quoted as saying by Reuters earlier this morning.

Grateful to all our partners I talked today – 🇨🇦, 🇵🇱, 🇱🇹, 🇱🇻, 🇪🇪, 🇳🇱, 🇨🇿, 🇸🇰, 🇸🇮, 🇹🇩, 🇸🇪, 🇨🇭, 🇱🇺, @EU_Commission 🇪🇺! Appreciate your support and real help in this dark time. Ukrainian people will never forget this! Keep holding the line! We are on our land!

— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) February 26, 2022

“We thank our friends for their commitment to pull several Russian banks out of the SWIFT system and for the paralysis of Russian central bank assets,” he wrote in a statement.

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