The residence of the President of the United States in Washington. File photoWASHINGTON, 17 Jan. Washington does not rule out any action against Moscow, including disconnecting Russian banks from the SWIFT system, in the event of a further escalation of the situation around Ukraine, a spokesman for the US National Security Council said. His words are quoted by journalists from the White House pool. «None of the options is ruled out,» he said in response to a request to comment on Western media publications that Washington and the EU countries refused to cut Russia off from SWIFT as an option for possible sanctions. Administration official The US added that Washington «continues to consult very closely with its European counterparts» about possible «serious consequences for Russia if it invades Ukraine in the future.» SWIFT is preparing targeted economic measures against the largest credit institutions. Germany insists on exceptions, as otherwise there may be obstacles to paying for gas and oil from Russia, the newspaper writes.The West does not benefit from problems in the banking system of Russia, said the senatorWashington has repeatedly announced the preparation of some «unprecedented» sanctions against Russia. Earlier, US senators from the ruling Democratic Party presented a draft of new anti-Russian sanctions, one of the points of which proposes restrictions «on providers of specialized financial messaging services (for example, SWIFT).» Western politicians have expressed concern in recent months due to the fact that Russia has concentrated troops on the border with Ukraine. As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out, the armed forces are moving within the territory of the state — this does not threaten anyone and should not worry anyone. In turn, NATO is increasing arms supplies to Ukraine, where the number of Western instructors has increased. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, this could provoke the Ukrainian authorities «to military adventures,» which poses a direct threat to Russia's security. Moscow believes that the West is trying to create a grouping of troops near the Russian borders.
