Economist Kolganov assured that the US and the EU will not be able to disconnect Russia from SWIFT Andrey Kolganov, in a conversation with Lenta.ru, named the reasons why the United States and the European Union will not be able to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT international payment system.
Disconnection from the SWIFT payment system can not be introduced either by a US decision or by a decision EU, since the payment system is regulated by an international organization, the economist said. “The use of this international organization for political purposes will cause quite significant damage to the reputation of this system of international settlements, so I am not sure that the SWIFT system will make a decision on sanctions,” Kolganov said.
At the same time, the economist recalled that a similar precedent has already taken place – Iran was disconnected from the SWIFT system, but it turned out that there is a possibility of bypassing this blockage through other channels of international settlements. “Although this, of course, creates serious technical difficulties,” Kolganov concluded.
Earlier, Bloomberg, citing sources, said that the United States and the EU are considering the possibility of introducing new sanctions against Russia if it “attacks” Ukraine … Among the most likely restrictions may be the conversion of rubles into dollars and other foreign currencies, the most radical solution would be to deny Russia access to the SWIFT financial payment system, but this would harm ordinary citizens, the agency said.