Why the West is reluctant to deny Russian banks access to SWIFT; Despite its punitive appeal, disconnection from the global messaging system may not have the intended effect
WITH RUSSIA’S invasion of Ukraine in full swing, the West is scrambling to respond. That Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, can back his imperial ambitions with nuclear arms has taken a shooting war with nato off the table. Economic retaliation is the weapon of choice. One obvious move would be to cut Russian banks’ access to swift, a messaging network used by 11,000 banks in 200 countries to make cross-border payments. Some Western governments favor pressing the co-operatively owned swift into cutting Russia off, but others do not. For now, the measure remains off the list of sanctions outlined by the West. Why the reluctance?