The European Union will not reconnect Russian state agricultural lender Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT payment system in the immediate future, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Monday, citing EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano. The bank facilitates the majority of transactions involving Russian agricultural exports.
Stano told the news outlet that Brussels may move to soften or lift restrictions placed on the bank only when the conflict in Ukraine ends, reports RT.
“As for the de-SWIFTing of Russian banks – this is part of the sanctions imposed by the European Union and other countries in response to Russia’s [military operation] in Ukraine,” he was cited as saying. SWIFT stopped servicing Rosselkhozbank transactions in June of last year. Its reconnection to the system is one of the conditions Moscow has demanded in order to facilitate the Black Sea Initiative brokered by the UN and Türkiye. The agreement consists of two parts: one guaranteeing the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, and the second which covers the removal of obstacles to Russian agricultural exports.
