The EU approved the disconnection of seven Russian banks

From March 12, the European Union will disconnect Russian banks VTB, Rossiya, Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and VEB.RF from the SWIFT system. This is reported in the official journal of EU documents.

“From March 12, 2022, it is prohibited to provide specialized financial messaging services that are used for the exchange of financial data to legal entities, organizations or bodies listed in the appendix [to this document], or any legal entity, organization or body established in RUSSIA , whose property rights directly or indirectly belong to more than 50% of the organization listed in the application, ”says the published decision of the EU authorities.

The names of seven Russian banks are given in the appendix. Previously, they all fell under Western sanctions due to the Russian military operation in Ukraine.

VTB reported that the disconnection from SWIFT would not affect the bank's customer service in Russia, however, it is no longer possible to transfer money to individual customers abroad.