EU's unwavering stance: No sanctions lift without Russian withdrawal

The Kremlin announced on Tuesday that Russia is willing to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea. However, it emphasized that this would require the lifting of sanctions on Rosselkhozbank, a Russian state bank serving the agricultural sector, as well as other Russian financial institutions involved in international trade of food products and fertilizers by reconnecting them to the SWIFT system.

Their reintegration into SWIFT, the international financial communication network, would need the EU's approval, given it is part of the current EU sanctions. The European Commission was questioned about this issue on Thursday.

The sanctions were imposed due to the conflict initiated by Russia against Ukraine, and the cessation of Russia’s unwarranted and unjustified aggression, along with the complete withdrawal of all Russian military forces from Ukrainian territory, remains a primary condition for altering or lifting the sanctions. "Russia must demonstrate genuine political will to end its illegal and unprovoked war of aggression," stated European Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper at the Brussels conference.

Meanwhile, European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill clarified that Russian and Belarusian banks are excluded from using the international SWIFT payment network as a measure to limit their ability to fund Russia's aggression.

The spokesperson stated that this means that banks cannot obtain foreign currency or transfer assets abroad. Gill explained that this has negative consequences for the economies of Russia and Belarus because if they want to conduct these transactions, they have to pay more, adding that we often hear from Russia that European sanctions and other measures have no impact on its economy. The spokesperson commented that it's strange, then, that they are now trying to force EU to withdraw them.