Borrell: sixth sanctions package hits three Russian banks and possibly Patriarch Kirill

EU High Representative Josep Borrell said that the sixth sanctions package against Russia will not only include a ban on oil, but also cutting off three important banks from SWIFT. Earlier, it had been reported that Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, would be de-swifted.

“It will still put more difficulties on the Russian economy in their exchanges with the outer world,” said Borrell in his press remarks before the second day of the European Council, taking place on 30 and 31 May in Brussels.

Asked whether he could confirm that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is on the new sanctions list, Borrell said: “I think so. A week ago, I would have said ‘Yes’.”

Borrell also said that today the Council would discuss how to improve the defence capacities of the European Union Member States. “What we have learned from the Ukrainian war is that it is not enough trade, it is not enough the rule of law, it is not enough to be a good civil power – we need to be also a military power,” concluded Borrell.

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