A fresh European Union sanctions package in response to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine is set to include “more Russian banks” being pushed out of the global SWIFT network, the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said Monday.

“In the banking sector, there will be more Russian banks that will leave SWIFT,” the global banking communications system, Borrell said during a visit to Panama.

Moreover, the European Commission is set to propose a new package of measures, including an embargo on Russian oil, officials say.

The anti-Russian measures will also target the country’s largest bank, Sberbank, which will be excluded from the global banking communications system SWIFT, diplomats said.

In March, the European Union suggested softening sanctions on Russia, if Moscow withdraws its troops from Ukraine and ends the special military operation there, as the European External Action Service Spokesperson Peter Stan told RIA Novosti.

“The end of the Russian unprovoked and unjustified aggression in Ukraine and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from the entire territory of Ukraine would be one of the main preconditions for the EU Member States to consider scaling back or lifting the sanctions introduced for undermining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine,” Stano said.

This came after the European Commission proposed to ban transactions with the Russian Central Bank and freeze its assets in the European Union, the Commission’s President, Ursula von der Leyen, confirmed at a press conference.

Von der Leyen claimed that this step will prevent Russia from financing Russian President Vladimir “Putin’s war”. She recalled that the EU intended to disconnect key Russian banks from the SWIFT system.

Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar English Website)