The EU hesitates to cut Russia from Swift as it pays for its gas, says Ben Wallace

Trying to block access to the Swift system is rejected by the EU because it pays Russia for gas, Ben Wallace proposed.

The Defense Minister said that Great Britain would "work all day" to "switch off the payment system for Russia", even though the EU and the United States refuse to implement the sanction.

"Unfortunately we do not have the Swift system under our control. It is not a one-sided decision," he told the BBC Radio 4th

Mr. Wallace said that the system was used to "move money" and explained: "If you pay Russia for his gas, it probably runs, for example, via the Swift system.

"We want it to be switched off. Other countries do not. We only have so many options. We will work all day to try to get it [Switched off for russia]."

Boris Johnson is expected to again provide the prospect of the exclusion of Russia from the Swift payment system on Friday, said Downing Street.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister was asked whether Great Britain would urge the sanction, and he said: “Yesterday you will have been the comments of the Prime Minister in the House of Representatives that we will continue to work with allies to try to shorten Russia away from Swift.

"You will be aware that the Prime Minister spoke to this yesterday in his call with the G7 heads of state and government. I assume that he will bring it up again at the meeting of NATO today."

The spokesman did not want to know which countries are to hold on to the proposal, but he said: "We have shown why we want to make sure that we can do this, as the prime minister said yesterday to ensure that we send a clear explanation to Wladimir Putin that his efforts will be unsuccessful, and to ensure that we can strike the Russian economy."

"As I said, the prime minister will address it again today."

"Don't be obsessed with dismantling Russia from Swift"

It came when the EU ambassador to Great Britain said that the world's heads of state and government should not be “obsessed” to exclude Russia from the international payment system.

Joao Vale de Almeida said that countries like Great Britain that aim to exclude Putin from the international payment network would have to examine the effects on other nations.

"We shouldn't be obsessed in the financial sector from Swift," he told the Today program.

"The measures we take ... have enormous effects on the financial sector in Russia. It affects 70 percent of the banking system and touches the heart of state companies that finance the war effort.

"You have to match your measures to the effect you have. Every action has a counter -effect. We have to look at that too."

Micheal Martin, Ireland's Taoiseach, also defended the decision not to remove Russia from the network.

He said: "People have different perspectives on the effectiveness or the value of Swift itself, so I do not think that we should concentrate exclusively on Swift, since the sanctions in areas that will harm the Russians will hit the economy.

"Over time, these sanctions will have an effect. What happens will not stop."

He also rejected claims that the EU had held back with its package of measures: "We have not held back anything. The reason and logic of President Putin, which is based on this attack, has nothing to do with Swift. What he does is ruthless, irresponsible and morally wrong."

countries in the dispute over Swift

The EU announced its second round of sanctions on Thursday evening after Boris Johnson had previously announced in the lower house a day.

The announced sanctions concerned a variety of sectors, including finance, energy, transport, exports, visas and certain people. However, the EU heads of state and government have decided not to exclude Russia from the Swift system at the present time.

In response to the decision of the EU, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, said that those who refused to prevent Russia's access to Swift had as much blood on their hands as the Russians that stormed his country.

he tweeted on Thursday:

Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is the most important safe news system used by banks to make quick payments across international borders.

It finances business worth the value of trillion dollars worldwide and is one of the most important instruments of international trade.

To rule out the system from the system would cause serious damage to its banks by delaying or blocking payments, which would make an economy that has already fallen into a stalling economy and a financial system.

The EU countries are among the most hesitant when Russia is to be blocked, since countries like Germany are an important trading partner in Russia and need it to access Swift to make payments.

Although the step would take the Russian banks hard, the blocking of access would also mean that European creditors could have difficulty getting their money back from Russia.

Data from Bank for international payment compensation show that European lenders will lose the most money from all foreign banks.

It is assumed that Mr. Johnson has pushed the EU heads of state and government to support the step, while the United States is still waiting to impose the sanction.

Joe Biden said, although this is an option, "is this not the position that the rest of Europe wants to take".

The US President indicated that the sanctions imposed by his government "exceed Swift".