EU excludes big Russian bank from Swift mechanism

Meeting in Brussels on Monday, European leaders announced that the European Union (EU) has agreed to remove Russia’s main bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT international financial system as part of the sixth package of sanctions against Moscow.

“This package of sanctions includes strong measures such as the withdrawal of Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, from SWIFT,” said Charles Michel, President of the European Council. So far, seven Russian banks have been excluded from SWIFT, a platform that allows transactions such as interbank money transfers.