All types of sanctions for Russia ‘on the table’ – EU — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

The EU is discussing the potential for excluding Russia from the SWIFT worldwide financial institution fee system and fully placing a halt on the Nord Stream 2 fuel pipeline if Moscow launches an invasion of Ukraine, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen has revealed.

Talking to CNN on Thursday, the Eurocrat mentioned the EU wouldn’t rule out any doable angles for sanctions, including that nothing is “off the desk.”

The EU and the US are presently engaged on a package deal of measures designed to discourage Russia from contemplating a army incursion into Ukraine. Moscow stands accused of inserting 100,000 troops on the border, with some alleging it’s planning an assault. This declare has repeatedly been denied by the Kremlin.

Von der Leyen’s newest assertion comes regardless of some stories that many international leaders have given up on a few of the harshest sanctions, together with on the monetary and power sectors, because of fears that the European financial system and the continent’s power safety may see important blowback.

These embody the suggestion that the EU may place a complete ban on the utilization of Nord Stream 2, a controversial fuel pipeline that connects Russia to Germany.

“I wish to be very clear: Nothing is off the desk, the whole lot is on the desk,” von der Leyen mentioned when requested immediately if the EU would be certain that the power system is stopped from ever getting used. She repeated the identical line when additionally requested about SWIFT.

“The Fee is chargeable for designing, shaping, and growing the sanctions – within the monetary discipline, within the financial discipline, within the expertise discipline. This contains the whole lot,” she defined.

In accordance with von der Leyen, any EU sanctions towards Russia would have a devastating impact. Brussels is Moscow’s largest buying and selling associate, and 75% of direct international funding in Russia comes from the EU, she defined, suggesting that financial measures can be painful.

Earlier in January, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that the EU and the US had refused to think about disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT worldwide financial institution fee system. It famous that it may destabilize monetary markets and assist create an alternate fee infrastructure that might now not be dominated by Western nations.

American outlet Bloomberg later reported that Germany had demanded that proposed sanctions towards Russia wouldn’t embody restrictions on power, insisting that the sector be exempted if measures are taken to dam banks’ entry to US {dollars}.