European Union leaders are discussing further expanding sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has said.
“We are talking about the third package of sanctions,” Nausėda said in a comment sent by his office early on Friday. “This is the only way we can talk to Russia, otherwise, we are simply not heard.”
According to the president, the sanctions will have severe economic consequences for Russia. The discussions in Brussels clearly showed that the vast majority of EU leaders are aware of the Russian threat, he added.
In an emergency summit, EU leaders agreed on a set of sanctions targeting Russia’s financial, energy, and transport sectors, as well as seeking to stifle its trade and manufacturing with export controls.
However, the block held back from taking the harshest measures sought by Ukraine – cutting Russia from the SWIFT global interbank payments system.
Nausėda said he spoke in favour of this measure at the European Council’s meeting, but no consensus on the issue was reached.
“This is one of a limited range of sanctions that would make a serious impression and have a serious impact on Russia,” he said. “I think it would be a timely decision. The only problem is that some countries have not expressed a clear opinion on this issue.”
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is used by over 11,000 financial institutions to send secure payment orders and is key to the movement of funds to Russia’s oil and gas sector, as well as a source of foreign currency in the country.
Cutting Russia off SWIFT could potentially affect European customers of Russian oil and gas, thus some EU countries pleaded for additional assessment on the measure.
A smaller package of EU sanctions, worked out just before Russia’s invasion, came into effect on Wednesday. EU leaders also said they would seek to draw up sanctions against Russia’s ally Belarus for its role in the military operation against Ukraine.
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