Washington. January 17th. INTERFAX - The US administration does not rule out considering any options for action against the Russian Federation in connection with the crisis around Ukraine, Fox News reported on Monday, citing an unnamed representative of the US National Security Council.
"None of the options has been removed from the agenda. We will continue to consult very closely with our European partners about the serious consequences for Russia if it continues to invade Ukraine," the TV channel quotes him as saying.
Thus, Fox news clarifies, he refuted the material of the Handelsblatt newspaper, according to which the EU and the US decided not to give further progress to the idea of disconnecting Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system as new restrictive measures against Moscow.
According to government sources of the newspaper, the option of disconnecting Russian banks from SWIFT turned out to be too painful for the initiators of possible new sanctions. Instead, due to the situation around Ukraine, the EU and the US are considering targeted sanctions against the largest Russian banks.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that the United States is forced to put pressure on European allies and partners, because despite numerous negotiations, they could not agree with them on specific sanctions measures against Russia in the event of its invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, the parties are united in the fact that in the event of an aggravation of the situation around Ukraine, Moscow is waiting for "serious economic consequences."
