Italy Pivots, Now Supporting Russia’s Swift Exclusion

On day three of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both sides are fighting for the capital, Kiev. The sirens wail again and again in the center on Saturday to warn the residents of the city of millions of air raids.

A skyscraper was hit in one of the attacks. Pictures clearly showed an impact on upper floors. “Kiev, our beautiful, peaceful city, has survived another night of shelling from Russian ground forces and missiles,” commented Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. “I urge the world: isolate Russia completely, expel ambassadors, oil embargo, destroy the Russian economy.”

The Ukrainian authorities in Kiev are already warning of street fights in the capital. “Combat operations are now raging on the streets of our city. We ask you to keep calm and be as careful as possible!” It said in the message on Saturday. Anyone who is in a bunker should stay there. In the event of an air alert, people should go to the nearest bunker.

Fighting is also raging around Odessa, Mariupol and other cities across the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi called on his compatriots in video messages to ward off Russian attacks.

“The fighting continues in many cities and areas of our country,” said Zelenskyj in the five-minute speech on Saturday afternoon. Russian troops want to take downtown Kiev and “install their puppets here,” he warned. So far, however, the capital and other strategically important cities are under the control of the Ukrainian army.

Moscow is sticking to the offensive and threatening the West

From Moscow there are no signs of giving in. “The military operation to protect Donbass will be carried out in full and until all results are achieved. Nothing more and nothing less,” Vice Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev wrote on the Vkontakte social network on Saturday. The punitive measures taken by the West did not change that.

Medvedev described the Western sanctions as “political impotence resulting from an inability to change Russia’s course”. “Now we are being expelled from everywhere, punished, frightened, but again we are not afraid,” said President Vladimir Putin’s confidante. Russia will answer “in mirror image”.

The sanctions could also prompt Moscow to conduct a full review of its contacts with the West, the ex-president wrote. He was suggesting that Russia could opt out of the New Start nuclear disarmament treaty. The last remaining nuclear pact limits the number of nuclear warheads that the US and Russia can hold.

More than a hundred thousand refugees

Thousands of people have now made their way to leave the country. Kilometers of queues form at the Ukrainian-Polish border, as reported by our reporter Jürgen Klöckner. Ukrainian citizens can enter the EU without a visa.

Poland has counted around 100,000 refugees from the neighboring country since the Russian attack on Ukraine. Since Saturday morning alone, 9,000 people have crossed the border from Ukraine, according to Poland’s Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker.

According to the UN, more than 120,000 people have fled the country. The situation is expected to get worse, said the deputy UN high commissioner for refugees, Kelly Clements, in an interview with the US television channel CNN.

Is the Swift ban coming from Russia?

In order to put pressure on Russia, the new EU sanctions came into force on Saturday night. The punitive measures are intended to cause significant damage to Russia and its economy. For example, the refinancing options of the state and selected private banks and companies will be restricted. In addition, the EU imposes export restrictions on strategically important goods.

In addition, the EU, Great Britain and the USA put Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on their sanctions lists. This could freeze foreign accounts or assets.

There are growing supporters of excluding Russia from the Swift global payment system. The Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is said to have spoken out in favor of this, according to the Ukrainian President Zelenskiy. Selenski said Draghi explained this to him in a telephone conversation on Saturday. This is confirmed in the ranks of the governing coalition in Rome.

ECB sources say a decision to cut Russia off from Swift could be made within days. “Swift is only a matter of time, a very short time, days,” the head of a central bank from the euro zone told the Reuters news agency, who asked not to be named. The federal government had recently expressed reservations about a Russian Swift exclusion.

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the developments in the Ukraine crisis:

Facebook and Twitter block ads from Russia’s state media

Facebook company Meta is taking further steps in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. be there prevent Russian state media from placing ads on the social network worldwide or earning money there, the head of security at Facebook, Nathaniel Gleicher, announced on Saturday on the short message service Twitter. “We are closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and will continue to share our steps to protect people on our platform,” said Gleicher.

Also the short message service Twitter blocks ads in the warring countries until further notice Russia and Ukraine. In this way, one wants to ensure that important information on public safety in the two states is highlighted, the group said on its news service on Saturday. Advertising would distract from such information.

Ukraine conflict: Rating agency downgrades Russia

The rating agency S&P has downgraded Russia’s credit rating to junk. The experts justified this with the international sanctions, which could have far-reaching effects on the ability of the banking system to finance international trade.

The rating grade for long-term foreign currency bonds has been lowered to BB+ from BBB- and is therefore in the speculative range. Further downgrades are possible, the analysts wrote, once there is more clarity on the economic impact of the sanctions.

Moody’s is also threatening to downgrade Russia its credible credit rating. Moody’s said there were “serious concerns” about Russia’s ability to cushion the impact of sanctions on its economy, budget and financial system. At present, Russia still has a rating of “Baa3”, which means that the bonds are one notch above the speculative range.

It can take months for a downgrade to follow up on such a threat, but if it does, the response should be quicker. Moody’s wants to include the extent of the conflict in its decision.
With agency material.

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