The European Union will ban all transactions with the Central Bank of Russia. This was announced today at a briefing by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Earlier it became known that the European Union completely closes the airspace of the union for Russia. Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that this measure would also apply to private jets of Russian oligarchs.
In addition, today the European Union, the US, Canada and the UK announced a decision to disconnect Russian banks from SWIFT. This measure will affect VTB, Otkritie, Sovcombank, Promsvyazbank and Novikombank, Alfa-Bank, VEB.RF, Rosselkhozbank, Novikombank, MCB, Rossiya, IS-Bank, ChBRR, Genbank and Gazprombank, “and, if necessary, other Russian banks,” the German government said.
Also, the European Union will freeze the assets of Russian businessmen and the Central Bank of Russia. Against which businessmen the restrictions will be introduced is still unknown. Restrictive measures against the Bank of Russia are being taken by the United States, Britain and Canada.
As of February 18, the international reserves of the Bank of Russia amounted to the equivalent of $643 billion.
In addition, the EU will refuse “golden passports” for Russians – the opportunity to obtain European citizenship in exchange for investment. Ursula von der Leyen added that these measures would “significantly reduce Russia’s ability to finance the war” and limit the ability of the Central Bank to support the ruble.
The White House believes that the Russian ruble will fall into a “free fall” after disconnecting several banks from the SWIFT system.
