Sanctions against Russia have not yet been massive. The West will tighten them, but cutting off SWIFT is not certain – Denník N

• Some new EU sanctions against Russia are already in place, and have been announced by the United States and Britain. They are mainly targeting people close to Putin and wasting Russia’s funding.
• After Russia has directly attacked Ukraine, further measures will be decided.
• We bring you an overview of those that have already been adopted by Western countries, as well as other options, such as cutting Russia off from Swift.

What is it about: Western countries adopted new sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, some of which are controlled by separatists, in Ukraine. These are measures to curb some Russian citizens and to punish the country economically for aggressive behavior and violations of international treaties.

Sanctions it has adopted European Union, announced on Wednesday. Sanctions are also in line with them reported United States, Britain, Canada or Japan. In addition, Germany has blocked permits to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Even when they were approved, the Western states said that if Russia’s aggression escalated, further measures would come. They haven’t been announced yet.

However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Thursday evening that large Russian banks will face a complete freeze on assets in Britain. In response to the Russian attack on Ukraine, he announced the largest package of anti-Russian sanctions to date, affecting more than 100 individuals and entities.

But China already announcedthat it will help Russia soften the effects of financial sanctions, so their impact may be questionable.

What already applies:

• Blocking of two large Russian banks