EU Parliament calls for SWIFT disconnect if Russia invades

The European Parliament (EP) passed a resolution on
Dec. 16 condemning Russia’s military buildup along the Ukrainian border. The
resolution calls for sanctions, including disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT
payments network, if it attacks Ukraine. The EP also recognized Ukraine’s
sovereign right to determine its foreign and strategic policy course. The vote
was passed by 548 MEPs, with 69 votes against and 54 abstentions.

James Hydzik: Disconnecting Russia from SWIFT has been discussed recently, but this
is the strongest and most formal declaration in that direction to date.
Importantly, the announcement of this measure as a possibility, along with
other pre-announced actions from the U.S. government such as cutting Russia off
from the primary and secondary bond markets, will kill the Russian currency
rate in case of an aggression, thus making a deep impact not only on large
Russian business, but also on the well-being of the populace. In our view,
those are strong arguments for the aggressor state to avoid any escalation.