what is swift? the acronym stands for society for world wide inter bank financial telecommunication, a global network found to process international financial transactions. it's been around since 1973. 190 countries used the standardized system, as well as banks and commodities and securities traders. last year, some 42000000 transactions were handled by swift every day. each swift member is identified by its bank identifier, court or big. the big ensures that money transfers are paid into the correct account. a big is familiar to any one with a bank card. it allows bank a in germany to carry out transactions with money. shares of precious metals with bank b in the u. s. ever big caught is blocked. the member is shot out of swift. barring rushes, access to the swift network would sever the country completely from the international monetary flow. russian companies would no longer be able to pay for or receive foreign goods. rushes trade with the rest of the world would be suspended, but it means the

what is swift? the acronym stands for society for world wide inter bank financial telecommunication, a global network found to process international financial transactions. it's been around since 1973. 190 countries used the standardized system, as well as banks and commodities and securities traders. last year, some 42000000 transactions were handled by swift every day. each swift member is identified by its bank identifier, court or big. the big ensures that money transfers are paid into the correct account. a big is familiar to any one with a bank card. it allows bank a in germany to carry out transactions with money. shares of precious metals with bank b in the u. s. ever big court is blocked. the member is shut out of swift. barring rushes, access to the swift network would sever the country completely from the international monetary flow. rushes companies would no longer be able to pay for or receive foreign goods. rush us trade, where the rest of the world would be suspended, but it means the

we to be re-removed from the swift banking system.— to be re-removed from the swift banking system.e resolved to continue imposing _ banking system. we are resolved to continue imposing massive - banking system. we are resolved to continue imposing massive gusts i banking system. we are resolved to i continue imposing massive gusts on pressure. continue imposing massive gusts on ressure. �* . continue imposing massive gusts on ressure. ~ ., ., ., pressure. ahead of that announcement, - pressure. ahead of that announcement, the - pressure. ahead of that - announcement, the chelsea pressure. ahead of that _ announcement, the chelsea owner and oligarch roman abramovich hands over control of his football club. and away from the front lines, international condemnation of russian invasion with protests taking place around the globe. hello and welcome to bbc world news. rockets and gunfire have continued to hit the ukrainian capital kyiv, the measures will block pressure's access to that swift banking system, access to that swift banking system, a measure of the growing anger at moscow's i

the swift banking sstem. r ,, . removed from the swift banking sstem. a , system.russian forces unleashed _ system. as russian forces unleashed their _ system. as russian forces unleashed their assault i system. as russian forcesi unleashed their assault on system. as russian forces - unleashed their assault on kyiv and other ukrainian cities, we are resolved to continue imposing massive costs on russia. �* . ., ., russia. and away from the front lines, international— lines, international condemnation of russia's invasion. protests have been taking place around the globe. welcome to bbc news. just past four o'clock in the morning in kyiv and there have been several powerful explosions near the capital city as residents of the city hunker down for another night in shelters. multiple reports say one explosion was caused by missile attack on an oil depot south—west of the capital and you can see the fire glowing in the night sky. meanwhile, on the night sky. meanwhile, on the ground in ukraine, russian troops are spreading out in parts of the north, east and the south

so is disconnecting russia from the international payment system. swift. but that would come with severe problems to western countries too. and so far hasn't been agreed upon where we can now speak to veronica grim from the german council of economic experts. thanks a lot for joining us. let's talk a bit more about the latest you sanctions, what impact they actually going to have on russia. and so meanwhile, the youth summit meet on the package that has been prepared for weeks. so excess of major ration banks to you, your p capital market will be blocked. assets of certain russians in europe will be frozen and good for the energy industry. you may no longer be delivered to russia and some other things. and so the fact that the sanctions were passed without much come from the sea can be seen as a sign of particularly good preparation are also inadequate preparation because after all, in the massive in ways and maybe tougher sanctions would also been appropriate. and one has not decided to cut out russia from the swift payment system. so this would be quite

it is not a payment system in the sense that money moves swift, but banks to swift to communicate withther. when we say that the banks that were already sanctioned last week have now been booted off, we were saying earlier they cannot make payments via this system. from then on, it means they can -- to make these payments. if you are company trying to make payments, banks are probably overwhelmed. even if there are alternatives to the swift system, it will be very hard not just operationally to get money to move from europe to russia or the other way around. dani: when we look at some of the cut off from swift from russia banks, is there a possibility we see more self imposed sanctions from banks? so it goes beyond the face value of freezing out some institutions, as you say, the gmail of international payments. nicholas: that is a good point. the last time the u.s. imposed fines on banks for sanctions, it was very expensive, into the billions of dollars. the banks are still seeing that. they remember what it was like. they may say the russian business isn't worth the hassle to expose

hurt themselves more than they would heard russia when they cut off swift. because swift is needed to pay actually, for gas and oil that is imported from russia to the european union. if they haven't, if do not have swift, they can pay their bills and then they would not get the energy that would hurt you too much. this is the assessment of night and also the german chancellor said that or during the deliberations. so swift is off the table also a ben or an embargo for oil and gas is also not on the table yet. so apart from sanctions, what sort of help can me a, you actually offer ukraine but in one word, money or since 2014 ukraine got 17000000000 euros in assistance for its budget. and just a couple of days ago, a 1200000000 were added as an emergency emergency fund to keep the state up and running and, and also the perspective that the ukraine can join the u. s. a sunday the door will remain open. the leaders always stratford, but there will be no boots on the ground, no soldiers and no buttons from the, you know, but it's on the ground that has vain and

swift interbank sstem. a , system.s russian forces unleash — system. as russian forces unleash their _ system. as russian forces unleash their assault - system. as russian forces unleash their assault on . system. as russian forces i unleash their assault on kyiv and other ukrainian cities, we are resolved to continue imposing massive costs on russia. �* . ., ., russia. and away from the front lines, international— lines, international condemnation of russia's invasion with protests taking place around the globe. hello, and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. as rockets and gunfire continued to strike the ukrainian capital kyiv, the united states, britain, and europe and canada have announced new financial sanctions against russia. the measures will block russia's access to the swift banking system, a measure of the growing anger at moscow's invasion of ukraine. let's take you through the major elements in the last few hours. the ukrainian capital kyiv is braced for another night of russian assault aft

swift does not appear to be on the table.aybe personal sanctions against putin and lavrov are going to take shape. does any of it make a difference at this point? alexander: you know what? the personal sanctions have not produced that much of effect as of now because they are more symbolic and kind of a way to show that the whole russian elite is being kept on their toes, especially from the u.k. or where it might prompt them anyway, but the sanctions are historically more effective, and we have seen throughout the last eight years when they were first introduced on russian energy and financial sectors and further down the line on some other areas, so already, as far as we can observe, with some payments not being processed by the banks, or for example -- while, for example, payments which are assessed internationally i apple pay or google pay are not being that stable. tom: that takes me onto my next question, which is around swift. there has been a lot of debate in europe about whether to cut russia off from the swift payme

so swift is the one that germany opposes. explain to the audience why it would be a bad thing to cut russia off from its ability to finance. it was by cutting it off from swift. explain to us what the negative consequences would be. no, we would not cut off russia with this one measure from finance. that was a package of measures that we need at the moment. and we need a strong unified position all these measures and it's not a good idea to focus solely on swift. we have other measures in this package that will work on the way a to cutting off russia from financing the war. and we totally focus in the debate on swift, which is not a very good idea. it's not only just one aspect. this one aspect is what makes us all feel good that we have done everything we could. but there are other measures in the text that are quite strong. for example, today, there weren't even the sanctions against putting a law, which was not something that has been done in ways of sanctions before you've told me that we've talked about a strong european

if it was be kicked out of swift, so i'm mobile, richard, or if it is. yeah, we only have one example really of the u. s. successfully getting a country kicked out of swift. that would be iran. so there's not a lot of historical data to go off of, and we are reading the tea leaves. but there are some fears being floated around that if russia is kicked out, it would undermine the swift system as a whole and encourage the development of alternatives. russia does have its own system, s p f s, but currently it's really only used by russian banks. china launched its own system in 2015, but that's really still under development. it's called the cross border international payment system and it's only used by about 80 form banks. but in principle, there's reason it can't be used as a substitute for swift. and believe it or not, there are still some pre swift tools that russia could use russian financial institutions could use like the telephone and telex. and nowadays you could use email as a secure business, a bank to bank a secure messaging system. these are a

going back to the option of using swift _ war.using swift against president. war. going back to the option of. using swift against president putin, surely that goes both ways? europe will also likely be affected if that is put in place? it is will also likely be affected if that is out in place?— is put in place? it is not most likel , is put in place? it is not most likely, europro _ is put in place? it is not most likely, europro will— is put in place? it is not most likely, europro will be - is put in place? it is not most l likely, europro will be affected. is put in place? it is not most. likely, europro will be affected. i think that is something that has been going on in the sanctions debate. eu countries have made clear to president biden, you are enthusiastic about sanctions. president biden had spoken about pre—emptive sanctions against russia before military action was taken in ukraine and the eu said no. they say thatis ukraine and the eu said no. they say that is because their economies are affected directly, some mem

this idea of swift and kicking putin out of swift seems to be growing. many questions from reporters about that because he did not make any announcements on that front. always an option. do you believe the world is going to interpret his moves as going far enough to stop putin? >> we will see how the world reacts. the president saying that the sanctions today exceed swift, taking rush out of that. we will see if that is accurate or not. they sanction specifically deal with russian banks. they deal with oligarchs and their family members. that is significant. there have been republicans like lindsey graham and others who have been calling for the specific sanctions. they are in the batch. a number of different efforts, high tech imports that affect russia's space agency. that is a national moment of pride. he said every asset they have in america will be frozen. interesting that he was asked about have you talked to china in an effort to isolate russia? and he said he is not prepared to comment on that as of yet. john, to your point, he said let cn a mont

first, we commit to ensuring that a certain number of russian banks are removed from swift. this will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally. second, we will stop a protein from using his war chest. we will paralyze the assets of russia central bank. this will freeze its transactions and it will made it impossible for the central bank to liquidate assets. now swinton also said that they were looking at imaging, the sale of citizenship. in other words, what is known as golden passports that allows wealthy rushing businessmen who are connected to the russian government a come citizens of european countries. and in that way, gain access to your ubs financial markets. we will work to prohibit rational oligarchs from using their financial assets on our markets. all of these measures will significantly harm put his ability to finance his war. this coming week, it will be a cons. atlantic task force that will be set up whose primary goal will be to ensure the effective implementation of these finan

you has decided to disconnect to some russian banks from the swift system as well as freeze assets of the russian central bank. the source in russia's defense ministry rejects allegations that the military hit, a residential tower block and ukraine's capital with both sides blaming each other . meanwhile, artillery and gunfire is reported in the city. this kindergarten in one of the districts had just one of the places that was shelled on saturday morning. and our correspondent reports from the dunbar conflict zone where kindergarten and has come under fire. fortunately, no one was harmed with broadcasting lab directors, 2 years in moscow. this is our 2 international. i'm john thomas. certainly glad to to have you with us. now we start with breaking news from the conflict in the ukraine. according to media sources, citing and ukrainian official, there has been a huge explosion at an oil depot which is about 18 miles south of ki, if this video, which we cannot yet verify shows the result of that explosion. allegedly, at that depot. as you can see, there are flames and huge plumes of sm

he is why, what is swift? the acronym stands for society for world wide into bank financial telecommunication, a global network founded to process international financial transactions. it's been around since 1973. 190 countries used the standardized system as well as banks and commodities and securities traders. last year, some 42000000 transactions were handled by swift every day. each swift member is identified by its bank identifier, code or big. the big ensures that money transfers are paid into the correct account . a big is familiar to any one with a bank card. it allows bank a in germany to carry out transactions with money. shares of precious metals with bank b in the u. s. ever big code is blocked, the member is shut out of swift. barring rushes, access to the swift network would separate the country completely from the international monetary flow. russia companies would no longer be able to pay for or receive foreign goods. rush us trade with the rest of the world would be suspended, but it means the

how was swift responding tonight? >> yeah, just a few days ago, i was at the white house when president biden said that this option was under consideration, but that not all european allies were ready to make this move. and now, today, this joint statement from european allies, and the united states, and canada saying, this is one of the many options that they've decided to move forward with, removing certain for russian banks from this global financial network, that underpins much of the transactions that occur throughout the world. and this is a critical step in order to for the president putin for moving forward with this invasion of ukraine. i think one of the important things here's zelenskyy, the ukrainian president, has been asking the west to move forward with this. but one of the criticisms you've heard from members of congress, for example, is that there are moving on the snow, and they haven't fully outlined how they're going to implement this. and it only applies to certain russian banks, not all of them.

russia from the swift system.not been used is because it will be such a strong sanction, that people have referred to it as the nuclear option. except, it is, not it does not have any nuclear weapons associate with, it is that serious. it does seem under pressure, it's easy to clear option is going to remind the world about this in the face of growing sanctions and opposition to the invasion of ukraine. now joining me is ruth bender, a professor of history at new york's university, she is the author of the book, strong men, from mussolini to the present. natalie, this is brand-new news there been people who over the last few days talk about things lines that the u.s. and nato will not discuss, so as not to trip into accidentally world war three. particularly, a war between nuclear powers. vladimir putin mention is nuclear arsenal the other day, in declaring the invasion of ukraine, they suffice and people so what do you make of this news? >> >> it's interesting how quickly he got this out, he did warn about it. th

there is no cut off of swift.means that russia can continue to sell its oil and gas and commodities. yes, they are painful sanctions, but they are certainly not enough to change russia's behavior. dani: henry, thank you very much. henry meyer in moscow. joining manus and me now is andrew gilmour, executive director of the brokaw foundation, an organization that works on conflict resolution, and the u.n. assistant secretary general for human rights. thank you for joining us this morning. through your whole life, you have worked in conflict resolution and human rights. you have held positions in conflict zones. given your experience, how would you describe the escalation and pace of moves we have seen in ukraine over the past 24 hours? guest: i would say -- it is the biggest event of my lifetime. this is the most astonishing thing. however many warnings we got from u.s. intelligence, it turned out to be absolutely correct in their assessments about what could happen. there has not been since 1939 when germany invade

the eu has decided to disconnect to some russian banks from swift system as well as a freeze assets of the russian central bank. a source in russia's defense ministry rejects allegations that the military hit, the residential tower block in ukraine's capitol with both sides blaming each other . meanwhile, artillery and gunfire is reported in the city this kindergarten in one of the annex districts. it's just one of the places that was shelled on saturday morning. corresponded reports from the dawn bass conflict zone where kindergarten has come under fire. fortunately, no one was heart with our testing live direct from a studio in moscow. this is our international. i'm john thomas. certainly glad to have you with us. and we start with breaking news from the conflict in ukraine, according to media sources, citing ukrainian official. there has been a huge explosion at an oil depot, which is about 18 miles south of kiff. this video which we cannot yet independently verify shows the result of that explosion. and as you can see, there are flames and huge plumes of smoke filling the sky. this

from swift. , ., ., , ., ., swift.lain what that is to our _ swift. ides want to explain what that is to our audience - swift. ides want to explain what that is to our audience because | that is to our audience because people may not be aware, it is a massive global financial system used by tens of thousands of banks and if you excluded russia what impact would have on russia's economy. it would have on russia's economy. it would have on russia's economy. it would be very hard, countries in europe — would be very hard, countries in europe still opposing this because they are _ europe still opposing this because they are afraid for their money. some _ they are afraid for their money. some people are afraid to lose money but other_ some people are afraid to lose money but other people and kyiv have to die. ~ ., ., ,, ~' but other people and kyiv have to die. ~ ., ., i. ~ ., but other people and kyiv have to die. ~ ., ., ~ ., ., it die. what do you think of that? it is horrible that _ die. what do you think of that? it is

we'll see where the swift issue goes as well. one thing that's happening though, governor chris sununu, this morning i had an order to remove russian made and russian branded spirits from our outlets until further notice and new hampshire stands with the ukraine. they'll be drinking tito's for a while. and a couple of developments that i wanted to go over with you, general, and first is that the ukrainian interior minister says that russian forces are closing. on a nuclear power station, which is in the south of the country just north of crimea. there are also russian claims that they have taken the city in the south again, a part of the attack from crimea however, ukrainian officials say that's not the case. what we know, general, russians control approximately this area in here, north of kyiv, and then further to the northeast, north of kharkiv, they control that area and they obviously control this area here in the ofdonba s and north of crimea, but not much other than that, are you surprised that rusia hasn't taken over large

and therefore swift here as well would cause considerable pain. ok, so swift off the table. but amongst the things that have been a great asset, phrases against a lot of improvement on his foreign minister. so grade level. very interesting. indeed, they had not been directly sanctioned, not even in the measures agreed last night, but apparently there was discussion last night of this option and now it has been announced. it's hard to say what the impact will be because, you know, on paper of letting me put in is a man who lives very modestly with a salary somewhat over a $120000.00 and an apartment, a couple of cars. but i think all of us have seen the images of his palatial match, and of course, he's thought to have a great deal of other assets including in europe. so unclear what the direct impact would be, but certainly it is a bold move. ok, stay with us, we're going to hear from general present from volta star, my, who's gone on record about this conflict. shepalees on president put in, i called on president routine to stop the madness of this war. now, this, in me, our

let's talk about swift. and if we can the global payments network, this is also a big decision while you lead, as they will. of course, lining up to ban of russia from swift. germany wasn't willing now, it has agreed again, was the pressure on the left shows just to grace in the end. you know, in this was a case where it was indeed, becoming extremely uncomfortable. germany was the last hold out on this up until yesterday. other countries that had been resisting like italy, cypress said they're willing to go along. germany was holding out not only because of concerns about the effects on its own economy because excluding banks from swift will affect both sides of the transaction. and there are a number of german banks that have outstanding debt in russia. a lot of outstanding debt. that's the same for italy in cyprus by the way, but also politicians here, including the foreign minister, were very concerned about collateral damage as she called it, to partners in russia like civil society organization that, t

will they be significant and then later comes swift and severe? >> these are -- this will be our severe and swift sanctions response to a russian invasion. and we will retain the right to impose additional steps, additional sanctions if russia continues to move forward. that has been our approach all along. we envisioned waves of sanctions that we would roll out on russia if anand as it continues to tak steps down the path of war. they could pursue diplomacy. the action they took yesterday was a big step away from diplomacy and toward conflict and we're going to impose sanctions in response to that. >> in that vein, do you see this blink blinken/lavrov meeting happening on thursday? >> i think what russia has done has made a diplomatic path much harder to walk down and much less likely. i'll leave it to the state department to determine whether that meeting goes forward. we have been in close consultation about what the next diplomatic step should be, but they have closed the door even further to diplomacy by the way that they have conducted their

all chant: ban russia from swift! _ ban russia from swift!ide the white house they are calling for the us government to ban russia from the swift financial payment system. all chant: usa, support ukraine! | protests in new york... we are ukrainians living in new york and we are desperate to ask people to help ukraine to fight. ..and in colombia. scenes in brussels as protesters relay their message to drivers from a bridge. in israel, this was the message. we need your help. we need help from european nations, from nato, from all around the world. don't stay at home. choose your words. from inside russia in ekaterinburg, police detained protesters who dare to raise their voices. these people march but there are no banners and there is silence, but it is still a show of opposition. resistance shows itself in many ways — a ukrainian asks a russian tank driver, "have you broken down? "can i tow you back to russia?" man laughs. it is now 6:25am in kyiv. this is a live shot from the centre of kyiv, filmed next to saint michael's golden dome monaste

if it was be kicked out of swift, so i'm mobile, richard, or if it is. yeah, we only have one example really of the u. s. successfully getting a country kicked out of swift. that would be iran. so there's not a lot of historical data to go off of, and we are reading the tea leaves. but there are some fears being floated around that if russia is kicked out, it would undermine the swift system as a whole and encourage the development of alternatives. russia does have its own system, s p f s, but currently it's really only used by russian banks. china launched its own system in 2015, but that's really still under development. it's called the cross border international payment system and it's only used by about $80.00 foreign banks. but in principle, there's reason it can't be used as a substitute for swift. and believe it or not, there are still some pre swift tools that russia could use russian financial institutions could use like the telephone and telex. and nowadays you could use email as a secure business, a bank to bank a secure messaging system. thes

, and access to swift for russia.ussia and china together on a new system, different system?- together on a new system, different system? exactly, and ithinkthe swift— different system? exactly, and i think the swift thing - different system? exactly, and i think the swift thing is - different system? exactly, and i think the swift thing is one i i think the swift thing is one of the reasons why the political leaders are holding back from it. to be clear, swift is a messaging system. as a for making payment easier between banks. there are 11,000 banks on it and it's something that if there were a decision to remove russia, it would make life very difficult for russian banks in the short term but russia actually has its own alternative payment system already. there are 23 european banks and global banks on it. there are already networks with belarus. ali ross is effectively unplugged itself from the swift system already. —— belarus. relationship between the and chinese system which is also there already and underdevelo

biden: specifically, with the sanctions that we've imposed exceed swift. the sanctions we imposed anything we've done. they've generated two thirds of the world joining us. they are profound sanctions. let's have a conversation in another month or so to see if see if they're working. >> can i ask about volodymyr zelensky? he spoke to vladimir zelensky yesterday, sir. is there now a complete rupture in u.s. and russia relations? pres. biden: there is a complete rupture right now in u.s.-russia relations if they continue on this path that they're on. in terms of the cold war, that depends. you have the vast majority of the rest of the world in total opposition of what he's doing, from asia to south america, to europe to around the world. and so it's going to be a cold day for russia. the idea, you don't see a whole lot of people coming to his defense. >> just a follow-up sir, are you urging china to help isolate russia? are you urging china to help isolate russia? pres. biden: i'm not prepared to comment on that at the moment. >> [inaudible] pres. biden: yea

what is swift? the acronym stands for society for world wide into bank financial telecommunication, a global network found to process international financial transactions. it's been around since 1973. 190 countries used the standardized system as well as banks and commodities and securities traders. last year, some 42000000 transactions were handled best swift every day. each swift member is identified by its bank identifier, code or big. the big ensures that money transfers are paid into the correct account . a big is familiar to any one with a bank card. it allows bank a in germany to carry out transactions with money. shares of precious metals with bank b in the u. s. ever big court is blocked, the member is shut out of swift. barring rushes, access to the swift network would sever the country completely from the international monetary flow. rushes companies would no longer be able to pay for or receive foreign goods. russia's trade where the rest of the world would be suspended, but it means the

swift is the _ call of the uk to use swift. _ are seeing more and more countries, france and _ are seeing more and more countries, france and others, coming forward to say that— france and others, coming forward to say that will _ france and others, coming forward to say that will not block a boycott of swift _ say that will not block a boycott of swift. , ., . ,., swift. let me tell you about connections _ swift. let me tell you about connections now _ swift. let me tell you about connections now poland i swift. let me tell you about| connections now poland and swift. let me tell you about _ connections now poland and sweden's football teams are refusing to play russia in the world cup play—offs. should we be breaking off? 1 russia in the world cup play-offs. should we be breaking off? i think it is inconceivable _ should we be breaking off? i think it is inconceivable to _ should we be breaking off? i think it is inconceivable to imagine, i should we be breaking off? i think it is inconceivable to imagine, and j it is inconce

his why, what is swift? the acronym stands for society for world wide into bank financial telecommunication, a global network founded to process international financial transactions. it's been around since 1973. 190 countries used the standardized system, as well as banks and commodities and securities traders. last year, some 42000000 transactions were handled by swift every day. each swift member is identified by its bank identifier, court or big. the big ensures that money transfers are paid into the correct account. a big is familiar to any one with a bank card. it allows bank a in germany to carry out transactions with money. shares of precious metals with bank b in the u. s. ever big court is blocked. the member is shut out of swift. barring rushes, access to the swift network would sever the country completely from the international monetary flow. russia's companies would no longer be able to pay for or receive foreign goods. rush us trade, where the rest of the world would be suspended, but it means

so that's going to hurt them without swift. these countries will not be able to buy gas in russia, and they're going to have to find that new sources. one of which of course, is united states natural liquefied natural gas. but that's going to be much more expensive. so we're going to have a number of factors affecting the economies of the west and particularly europe with inflation. from rising situation, it's going to be much worse. busy than it was in 1073, with the energy crisis, the oil engineering after the 1973 me least war. so for the full, i mean, much like shooting on their feet while can i ask? do you think this will actually hurt the everyday consumer in russia? it won't hurt immediately of everyday consumer russia, the ever, the consumer in russia was going to be hurt by many other factors. i mean, a number of them, i can't even imagine many russians like to travel. and just imagine all the russians who are living in europe these days. how they must be feeling. there's going to be a number, i think social logical, p

you shut off banks from the swift system in russia.indiscernible] that is an uncertainty that overhangs once again. not as severe as march 2020. it will certainly be a risk. haidi: what do you recommend in terms of being able to find safety in a portfolio or even opportunity at this point? ben: i do think crises offer opportunity. you could think about putting cash into treasuries with yen or gold, traditional safe havens. fair enough, they have worked over the last few days. but if you think about what is happening, the demand for materials like copper and energy is only going to increase because the big risk of the crisis will be an energy disruption. and it will also affect food and other global commodities. there is a focus on different commodities including energy. it will be interesting to see how the energy markets open on monday in europe. you're going to get a relative value. u.s. energy companies will do initially better than european companies. vonnie: norway's fund selling out of russia as well. i wanted to mention that reu

do you believe that tough for russia off swift would that do any more than annoy him? well, this is them the key distinction. they are used to sanctions on russia because they will not pay the price of the sanctions. their fortunes are hidden away in tax havens in london and the caribbean were swift would work immediately. and of course, the most urgent thing of all is to send ukraine the arms to defend themselves. germany makes some very good arms. why aren't you doing it? if you don't help you crane now, we will then have to spend much more money for a general arms race with russia. and you cannot guarantee anybody that could you will stop at ukraine. if you read his manifesto of july last year and you heard his range speech to the russian people full of lies, this is the man who's cut the links with reality. this is a man on the mic go manian. man, you know, it may go mean you can't trick for some kind of imperial glory and yeah, the same, i'm going to have to interrupt you there. you're bringing president low to me or the lengthy, in the face of all this has been v

do you believe that tough for russia off swift would that do any more than annoy him? well this is them, the key distinction. they are used to sanctions on russia because they will not pay the price of the sanctions. their fortunes are hidden away in tax havens in london and the caribbean were swift would work immediately. and of course, the most urgent thing of all is to send you crane the arms to defend themselves. germany makes some very good arms. why aren't you doing it? if you don't help you, great. now, we will then have to spend much more money for a general arms race with russia. and you cannot guarantee anybody that could, you will stop at ukraine if you read his manifesto of july last year. and if you heard his range speech to the russian people full of lies, this is the man who's cut the links with reality. this is a man on the mic go, manian. man, you know, it may go mean you can't trick for some kind of imperial glory and yeah, the same, i'm going to have to interrupt you there. you're bringing president low to me or the lengthy, in the face of all this h

that not only they want to do swift, but perhaps do even more.rtened to see what what they're doing, but obviously they were doing in lockstep with each other. >> so i think a follow-up question here, is why not go full tilt here. why select russian banks? why not all of them at once, fully isolated? >> well, i think part of that is that they're concerned about the energy sector. it is still wintertime. there is still in need, unfortunately, because of the dependency on russian gas. there is a need for that gas to help heat european homes. so they're approaching this a bit by bit, not only to make sure they don't make things hard, harder on europeans. but they're holding some things in reserve to. if you fire all your guns at once, and there's an escalation by the russians, you don't have a lot to then sanction putin with, if things really get bad. and we have to look to the future because i'm afraid this is gonna get worse before it gets better, in terms of the fighting. and we're gonna need to have some sanctions on our back pocket, to throw at

because you couldn't pay russia for the oil and gas through swift, and they wouldn't send it any more. and no one knows where that's going to go. so if they do that, if they actually go through with that, they will disrupt global trade. they will drive inflation through the roof. and let me remind everyone, russia, china, iran, and many other countries don't like the domination, the united states as over the swift system. and it really is only a matter of time before there are multiple systems. bitcoin is already functioning to a degree like that. so this would be a very dangerous step because it will accelerate the end of the swift monopolies, too, bothered over kind of routine. now, once again lives in e. o. can that sir amazing of the un security council members are discussing their response to the washington mission before the clued? i want to commend the true and tremendous courage we're seeing from the ukrainian people. i want to thank the ukrainian permanent representative who is here with us today. earlier today, president biden spoke with president zalinski and personally com

why are you kicking russia out of swift? and his answer was because the european partners are on board and chief among european partners, of course, was germany because they depend a lot. germany depends a lot on energy deliveries from russia. and so, kicking russia out of swift making those transactions, those financial transactions more difficult, and more costly. germany was afraid that that was going to hamper their ability to get energy from energy delivery gas cold from russia. so that's why they were against it. but now, as it seems, international pressure just got to big in light of what we're seeing happening in ukraine and the russian aggression and the war that russia is waiting there. that in the end, germany and other european countries. finally, kate and they saw that they had to agree to this as to the sanction that is now being stopped on russia. and that expert say is one of the most severe economic sanctions at the west can impose on russia. i mean, you in security council, which we've seen meet in new york

i know now the restrictions against the swift banking system as well. the idea being to squeeze the russian economy. how do you think the land in moscow, will it make vladimir putin back off? will it work? >> the sanctions were never designed to work immediately. but now, the way in which the sanctions have been put together. first of all, the biden administration has been very patient, or impatiently patient, and lining up support of the rest of the world. with that in place, shutting down the russian bank's first, so that they did not have access, and then shutting off their ability to communicate, well significantly, impact the russian a crown me much sooner than most people think. it may, very well be that most people think that the access to atm machines, banks who would be able to do domestic as well as international exchanges, may not be available. in addition to that, it will become pretty clear that the russian economy is going to be slowed down. and slowly, slowly strangled. that slowness, maybe much faster than everybody anticipated. i would

you stopped short of cutting russia out of the swift transaction system. that's really been the big discussion, isn't that ukraine, the u. k. some others on our favor of putting the latest news coming out of germany? maybe even if they are considering supporting it. i guess 2 questions. why do you think it's not been done yet? and to, if it is done, what impact is that going to have on both sides? because this is a double edged sword, isn't it? yes, the swift system is a globally use system for moving money, particularly among banks and large financial institutions. trillions of dollars worth of transactions happened all the time. and in a global world more globally interconnected than ever before. if you block the swift system, you are declaring a kind of economic warfare that will damage and destroy all kinds of economic relationships. the reason mister shows in germany did not want to and stopped the attempt to continue to free his russia out of swift was because it would throw the price of oil and gas up into the roof beyond what it has already been. b

what you are seeing is they are being removed tonight from swift, _ are being removed tonight from swiftn recent years— seeing natural allies in recent years who have been sympathetic like hungarv _ years who have been sympathetic like hungary and turkey changing their minds _ hungary and turkey changing their nrindsand— hungary and turkey changing their minds and you are seeing president zelensky— minds and you are seeing president zelensky being promoted into this hero figure around the world. this is a nran— hero figure around the world. this is a man who became president of ukraine _ is a man who became president of ukraine because he played a comedian teacher— ukraine because he played a comedian teacher who went viral and then became — teacher who went viral and then became president in a tv show. so this is— became president in a tv show. so this is someone that i don't think was anticipated to be quite the leader— was anticipated to be quite the leader he is. and as the gulf news picks— leader he is. and as the gulf news picks up— leader he is. and as the gulf news picks up he —

you're just stopping communication through this mechanism. swift. and that's important because swift is the mechanism that's the standard across the banking industry. it's also the most secure one. if russian banks are forced to use other mechanisms, they're less secure. and a lot of western banks, or a lot of banks all over the world, may simply say, actually, you know, we don't want to do business through these mechanisms and it will increase the cost and the friction of doing that. what's more important from a financial and economic perspective is some of the blocking sanctions. we've already seen us introduce against russian banks like spot bank and the bar, which prevents them from interacting with the dollar economy. but one way, you know, if you think of you're talking to your friends through whatsapp, if you suddenly have a restriction saying, hey, you can't communicate with this person to what's up, you can still communicate with them through other means. what the usaa saying, the blocking sanctions is you can't communicate with them at all