The West, including the United States, announced additional sanctions to exclude Russian banks from the International Interbank Telecommunication Association (SWIFT) payment network in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine yesterday (26th) local time.
In a joint statement yesterday, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada condemned "Russia for choosing war and attacking Ukraine's sovereignty." It's a fundamental attack."
"As Russian forces attack Ukraine's capital, Kiev and other cities, we have decided to isolate Russia from the international financial system," they said.
As a result of this measure, some selected Russian banks will be completely excluded from the SWIFT payment network, and access to international reserves by the Russian Central Bank will also be restricted.
SWIFT is a highly secure computer network used by over 11,000 financial institutions worldwide to securely send and receive payment orders.
If removed, Russia will not receive any export payments, and it has been mentioned as one of the strongest economic sanctions.
Some call it a 'financial nuclear option'.
In particular, in the United States, demand for Russia's exclusion from SWIFT has been steadily raised, but it was not included in the initial sanctions due to the objection of some European countries, including Germany.
In addition, if sanctions against the Central Bank of Russia are implemented, access to foreign exchange reserves estimated at $643 billion or KRW 774.5 trillion of Korean money will be restricted, which could directly damage Russia's finances.
In addition, sales of so-called 'golden passports', which issue citizenship to foreigners who have invested a certain amount of money, are also restricted to Russians.
This is a measure to prevent rich Russians affiliated with the Russian government from gaining Western citizenship and accessing the financial system.
In addition, the Pan-Atlantic Task Force will be formed next week to check the sanctions situation, identify the regional assets of institutions and individuals subject to sanctions, and initiate measures to freeze them.
"We stand with the people of Ukraine in this dark hour," they said.
Previously, Western countries, including the United States, have been focusing on preventing further invasions by announcing a series of financial and export control measures after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in earnest.
The day before, sanctions were also announced against key individuals, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
However, it was criticized for not taking a preemptive response even after recognizing Russia's invasion plan and causing the crisis, and also criticized that the level was weak by pushing some high-strength sanctions to a lower priority.