the SWIFT global payments system, because it is “very important” to keep such drastic measures “for a situation where it may be necessary.” Italy is also reported to have opposed the measure in order to maintain some leverage over Russia’s dictatorial president, Vladimir Putin.
Both Germany and Italy are highly dependent on Russian natural gas, which would be difficult to pay for if Russia really were to be cut off from SWIFT; Austria has the same dilemma, and is taking a similar approach. All three of these countries have other extensive business ties with Russia, with Italian and Austrian banks being highly exposed right now. French banks do a lot of business in Russia as well, and France has declared a SWIFT cutoff to be “the very last resort.”
And then there’s Hungary,...As with President Miloš Zeman of the neighboring Czech Republic, Orbán appears to have changed tack in the past couple days, condemning Russia’s invasion and professing to stand with Ukraine. However, he has yet to follow Zeman in calling for the SWIFT option, which the Czech leader says is “needed to isolate a madman.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said
Thursday that “everyone who now doubts whether Russia should be banned
from SWIFT has to understand that the blood of innocent Ukrainian men,
women, and children will be on their hands, too.” And on Friday morning,
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov urged people to share the realities
of the invasion “in the Italian, German, and Hungarian media space” and
among European officials." Fortune
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