Poland and the Baltic States propose separating Gazprom Bank from the Swift system in the European Union

According to EUobserver, Poland and the Baltic countries called on the European Union to separate Gazprombank from the international SWIFT transfer system as part of the eleventh round of sanctions.

“The exclusion of Gazprombank from the SWIFT system is a priority and will have a symbolic meaning. Since payments for the import of Russian oil to member countries pass through this bank, at a minimum, consideration should be given to freezing the assets of this bank,” the statement released by these countries said.

But in the event that the aforementioned Russian bank is disconnected from the SWIFT system, the EU will have to redirect payments through alternative systems such as SPFS (Financial Messaging System launched by the Bank of Russia in 2014) or CIPS (China Cross System). Border Interbank System).

In addition to demanding sanctions against Gazprombank, Poland and the Baltic states called for a freeze on the assets of “the maximum possible number of Russian banks, financial institutions and their subsidiaries.”

In the new package of sanctions against Russia, the Russian Druzhba oil pipeline and the import of Russian diamonds are named among the “priority” ones. This decision is explained by the fact that “the refusal to impose sanctions on the pipeline creates an imbalance in the oil and fuel market due to the difference in prices for Russian oil and other types of oil.”

According to Poland and the Baltic States, since “the EU is the buyer of 41% of all diamond exports from Russia, such sanctions (on the Russian diamond trade) are likely to put a lot of pressure on Russia.”

Source: TASS