EU rejects plans to reconnect Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT

The European Union does not yet plan to lift sanctions against Rosselkhozbank and reconnect it to SWIFT. About this Izvestia informed official representative of the EU Foreign Service Peter Stano.

“EU sanctions do not apply to trade in agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilizers, between third countries and Russia, payment options still exist between them,” he said.

Stano recalled that the disconnection of Russian banks from SWIFT is part of the sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia in response to the start of a special operation in Ukraine. According to him, the restrictions will be relaxed or even lifted only after the end of the conflict. The only obstacle to the export of food and agricultural products through the Black Sea remains the fighting in Ukraine, Stano stressed.

On May 17, the grain deal was extended for another two months. Speaking about the connection of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov toldthat different options are being worked out, equivalent to unlocking. According to him, there are hopes for this.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated on the five “systemic” tasks of the deal, on which there is no progress: reconnecting Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, resuming the supply of spare parts for agricultural machinery, unblocking transport logistics and insurance, restoring the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and unfreezing the assets of Russian companies. The department emphasized that the extension of the deal would be impossible without meeting these requirements. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov named the next two months are decisive for the initiative.

The grain deal was concluded on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Turkey and the UN, on the one hand, and representatives of Russia and Ukraine, on the other. Separate agreements were concluded with Moscow and Kiev: the first was for the export of Ukrainian grain from three ports, including Odessa, Yuzhny and Chernomorsk, and the second was for assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers. Moscow has repeatedly noted that the second part of the deal is not being implemented.