Bank sanctions are a sharper sword than cutting Russia off SWIFT, German minister says

The package of banking sanctions that the European Union is imposing will hit Russian President Vladimir Putin's government harder than excluding Russia from the SWIFT payments system, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said. Excluding Russia from SWIFT would make it impossible to support civil rights groups in Russia from abroad, or for Russian students abroad to send money to help their grandmothers, she told ARD public television. "The sword that looks hardest isn't always the cleverest one," she said. "It's not just oligarchs who do financial transactions...

The package of banking sanctions that the European Union is imposing will hit Russian President Vladimir Putin's government harder than excluding Russia from the SWIFT payments system, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

Excluding Russia from SWIFT would make it impossible to support civil rights groups in Russia from abroad, or for Russian students abroad to send money to help their grandmothers, she told ARD public television.

"The sword that looks hardest isn't always the cleverest one," she said. "It's not just oligarchs who do financial transactions... The sharper sword at the moment is listing banks. Government bonds can't be sold abroad any more."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)