Greece also supports Russia’s exclusion from the Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) system, according to government sources.
The western forces consider the expulsion of Moscow from Swift after the Russian invasion and the war in Ukraine, although such a move would cause problems. Even Berlin, which was originally negative in such a perspective changed its stance, with German Finance Minister Christian Lindner clarifying that Germany is positive about this development.
Earlier o Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis talked to him on the phone Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky in which he expressed the full support of Greece in Ukraine in these very difficult times. He reiterated that Greece was in favor of the European Union’s tougher sanctions against Russia from the beginning, said he was ready to provide assistance to Ukraine in areas that would be requested and said that the Greek Consulates General in Odessa and Mariupol continue to operate.
The President of Ukraine thanked the Prime Minister for the clear position of Greece and himself personally, from the first moment, in favor of his country and asked for the continuation of support within the EU.
The Prime Minister also spoke with him President of the European Council Charles Michel. During the conversation they agreed on the need for full coordination at European Union level to provide all possible assistance to Ukraine and to President Volodymyr Zelensky during these very difficult times.
Reuters: “Issue of days” is the exclusion of Russia from Swift
Earlier, Reuters reported that it is matter of days the decision on the exclusion of Russia from the international banking system SWIFT, citing the governor of the central bank of a eurozone country.
“SWIFT is just a matter of time, very short time, days,” said the country’s central bank governor, who asked not to be named.
“Is enough; No. Necessary; Absolutely. “Sanctions only make sense when there are costs for both sides and that will be costly,” he said.
What is Swift?
Swift is an interbank system through which financial institutions record, update and process cross-border financial transactions. Founded in 1973, it is headquartered in Belgium and connects 11,000 banks and institutions in more than 200 countries.
It sends more than 40 million messages a day as trillions of dollars change hands between companies and governments. More than 1% of these messages are believed to be related to Russian payments.
Swift was created by American and European banks, which did not want a single institution to develop its own system and have a monopoly. The network is now jointly owned by more than 2,000 banks and financial institutions.
It is overseen by the National Bank of Belgium in cooperation with the major central banks around the world – including the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.
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