February 26, 2022

International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War

Allies announce SWIFT and Russian central-bank sanctions

The headline sanction was not a switch flipped that Saturday. The allies announced a plan; the named banks were disconnected days later, and there were seven of them, not all of them.

26 February 2022: a joint statement

The leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States issued a joint statement on 26 February 2022 in response to Russia's attack on Ukraine.

They committed to removing selected Russian banks — not every Russian bank — from the SWIFT financial-messaging system, and to measures preventing Russia's central bank from deploying its international reserves to undermine existing sanctions.

Golden passports and a transatlantic task force

The statement also promised restrictions on so-called golden passports, tying citizenship-for-investment programs to sanctions enforcement, and a transatlantic task force to identify and freeze assets belonging to sanctioned people and companies.

SWIFT itself transmits standardized financial messages; it is not a bank or a settlement system. Disconnecting a bank from it is not the same as freezing that bank's assets or technically blocking every possible transfer.

The measures landed on later dates

The statement said in its own words that the new measures would be implemented in the coming days.

On 28 February the United States prohibited transactions involving Russia's central bank, and the Bank of Russia raised its key rate from 9.5% to 20%. The EU's initial SWIFT prohibition, covering seven Russian banks, took effect on 2 March.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources 2 audit passes

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

The date is secure, but the distinction between announcement and implementation is essential: the commitment was published on 26 February; central-bank restrictions and specific SWIFT disconnections followed on later dates.