Europeans plan to remove Russia from SWIFT system

 Bloomberg:

EU Moves Toward Expelling Russia From SWIFT With German Support 
French finance minister calls it a ‘financial nuclear weapon’ 
The move would require unanimity among the 27 EU countries

...

 The EU’s first two sanctions packages did little to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from continuing his aggressive actions against Ukraine, leading the bloc to start work on a third package that may include the SWIFT provision, according to an official familiar with the plans. Opposition to the move has been decreasing, with France and Italy also publicly expressing support.  

...

SWIFT, which delivers secure messages among more than 11,000 financial institutions and companies, is central to the global financial system and an inability to access it could cause significant economic damage.
...

The sooner it is in place the more effective it will be at imposing a cost on Russia. 

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