Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said late Friday night that his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio expressed support for Rome to disconnect Russia from the international payment network SWIFT.
"A call with my Italian colleague Luigi Di Maio. Full solidarity with Ukraine. My colleague assured me that Italy will support Russia's disconnection from SWIFT," the minister wrote.
Italy was one of the European countries, along with Germany, opposing Russia's disconnection from the SWIFT financial transaction system. The other two countries were Hungary and Cyprus.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock explained her country's position as to why it is not ready to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT system by now. According to Berbock, she does not want the disconnection from SWIFT to affect ordinary residents of the aggressor state.
"If, for example, a granddaughter lives in Europe and wants to transfer money to her grandmother, even if it sounds insignificant, she will not be able to make the transfer. But those who are responsible for the bloodshed will have ways and means and conduct their financial transactions despite this," Berbok told reporters.
