French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Friday pushed Russia to be excluded from the Global Swift interbank system for its attack on Ukraine, supported by other EU countries but faced more careful Germany.
“Some (European Unions) member countries have shown a reservation, France is not one of these countries,” said Le Maire told reporters after the meeting of the European Union Finance Minister in Paris – while describing the steps as “financial nuclear weapons”.
He added that a quick exception will be weighed “not within a few days or weeks, but in the coming hours”, with technical advice from the European Commission.
While Le Maair received public support to move from other countries including Austria, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner rejected high pressure schedules without overriding exceptions at all.
“I suggest that we also have to look into the instrument that goes beyond even the latest sanctions package, which includes Swift,” Lindner told reporters in Paris, adding that he “could not say anything about the period of time”.
“If we arrive at this exception, will it be a trigger that causes Russia to stop shipping the gas, because they can no longer be paid?” He asked.
But Lindner added that “for someone to ask questions about the consequences does not mean that they are not ready to bear it”.
Russian gas is a higher part of the supply of energy in Germany and other parts of Europe than in France, even though Paris has vowed to protect residents from pressure up due to Russian attacks.
Le Maair and Lindner previously praised the European Union response together to Moscow, said that sanctions had decided to “isolate Russia financially” and “cut all relations between Russia and the global financial system”.
Lindner insisted that “we have a complete blockade of Russian banks, which means business transactions with Russia are as good as to stop.”
Reacted Thursday for sanctions decided by the UE, England, the United States and other Western countries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “Pressure in Russia must increase” from what was announced.
“Not all the possibilities for sanctions have run out,” he added.
Foreign Minister DMYTRO KULEBA has been more explicit Thursday, writes on Twitter that “who now doubts whether Russia must be banned from Swift must understand that the blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children will also be in their hands.”
