Head of EU diplomacy admits discrepancies on the scope of sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine

The head of European diplomacy and vice president of the European Commission (EC), Josep Borrell, assured that if the sanctions applied against Russia have not included its exclusion from the Swift payment system, it is because there was not enough consensus, but he does not rule out that this measure apply in the future.

“Everything is on the table, nothing has been totally rejected, but we are on a gradual strategy. Yesterday there was not enough consensus to take that measure, but that does not mean that we are not going to take it later,” Borrell said in an interview with the France 24 network, questioned about this possible measure.

The high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy pointed out that in the application of the package of sanctions against Russia for the military intervention that began this Thursday in Ukraine, work is being done “unanimously”.

Borrell chairs today the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs that must formally approve the package of sanctions after the guidelines received by the Council of the EU.

The European official recognized that it will be difficult for the sanctions approved against Russia to damage some of its sectors, such as agriculture -which it has developed in recent years to gain autonomy-, but believes that the sectors hit by penalties, such as transport, energy and technology will cause damage to its leading sectors.

Several governments have asked that Moscow be excluded from Swift, the main international banking coordination network, to hit Russian trade and hinder their business, but countries such as Germany, Italy and France have not wanted to take that step at the moment, nor have the United States. Joined.

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, also admitted that they can decide it in the future.