“That’s really going to be the test: does Fortress Russia hold up when you have assets that can be frozen overseas?” said Daniel Tanneba...
“That’s really going to be the test: does Fortress Russia hold up when you have assets that can be frozen overseas?” said Daniel Tannebaum, a partner at Oliver Wyman who advises banks on sanctions.
For now, US and European officials are not ready to cut all Russian banks from Quick, the Belgian money transfer system used by more than 11,000 financial institutions worldwide. But a senior Biden administration official told reporters Thursday that such action was not out of order. In Europe, governments differ on whether to detach Russia from Swift.
For now, US officials do not anticipate major disruptions to Russia’s energy exports, which are the mainstay of the country’s economy. Europe depends on commodities, and world leaders don’t want to drive up oil and gas prices, despite Germany halting the North Flow 2 gas pipeline project this week.
European Union leaders met in Brussels on Thursday evening and mulled over the details of the proposed sanctions, which they say would deal a heavy blow to Russia’s economy.
But documents seen by The New York Times said the bloc, which has close financial ties to Russia and shares borders with Ukraine, would likely postpone several tough decisions, despite pleas from Poland, the Netherlands and of the Baltic States to adopt a hard line. approach.
“Enough cheap talk,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who has previously received Ukrainians fleeing war. He added: “We buy as Europe, as the European Union, a lot of Russian gas, a lot of Russian oil. And President Putin takes the money from us Europeans. And he turns that into aggression.
The report was provided by Matina Stevis-Gridneff from Brussels, Alan Rappeport from washington, Rich Motoko of Tokyo and Yan Zhuang from Melbourne, Australia.
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