UK Says It Will Work 'All Day' To Persuade Europe To Cut Russia Off From Swift

The UK has said it will work "all day" to persuade fellow European states to cut Russia off from the international Swift payment system. From a report: The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, ended the pretence that Britain was not at odds with its fellow European leaders over the issue. He said there was still time for Russia to be excluded, and the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said: "The UK is working with allies to exclude Russia from the Swift financial system." Wallace added: "We will work all the magic, do everything we can in diplomacy." Truss is to undertake a round of shuttle diplomacy to try to rally support for the British position after the EU refused to adopt what has been billed as the "nuclear option" of sanctions. The story adds: Swift is incorporated under Belgian law and, although supervised by a complex web of central banks, it was forced in 2012 to comply with an EU regulation, as confirmed by its home country government, that had cut Iran off from the banking system.

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