We, the leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, condemn Putin’s deliberate war and the attacks on the nation and the sovereign people of Ukraine. We support the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people in their heroic efforts to resist the Russian invasion. The Russian war represents an attack on the fundamental international rules and norms which have prevailed since the Second World War and which we are committed to defending. We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin.
Last week, alongside our diplomatic efforts and our collective work to defend our own borders and to assist the government and people of Ukraine in their struggle, we, along with our other allies and partners around the world, imposed tough measures to the main institutions and banks, and to the architects of this war, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As Russian forces launch their assault on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, we are determined to continue to impose costs on Russia that will further insulate it from the international financial system and our economies. We will be implementing these measures in the coming days.
Specifically, we are committing to the following actions: First, we are committing to ensure that certain Russian banks are removed from the Swift messaging system. This will ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and will harm their ability to operate globally.
Second, we commit to imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in a way that would undermine the impact of our sanctions.
Third, we pledge to take action once morest individuals and entities who facilitate the war in Ukraine and the harmful activities of the Russian government. Specifically, we commit to taking action to limit the sale of citizenship – the so-called “golden passports” – that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems. .
Fourth, we commit to launching a transatlantic task force next week that will ensure the effective implementation of our financial sanctions by identifying and freezing the assets of sanctioned individuals and companies that exist in our jurisdictions. As part of this effort, we commit to applying sanctions and other financial and coercive measures to other Russian officials and elites close to the Russian government, as well as their families and enablers to identify and freeze the assets they hold in our jurisdictions.
We will also engage other governments and work to detect and disrupt the movement of ill-gotten gains, and to prevent these individuals from hiding their assets in jurisdictions around the world. Finally, we will strengthen our coordination once morest disinformation and other forms of hybrid warfare.
We stand with the Ukrainian people in these dark times. Even beyond the measures we are announcing today, we are ready to take further action to hold Russia accountable for its attack on Ukraine.