Paralysing Russia’s central bank could cripple Putin’s plans

Pushing Russia out of Swift, the international bank transfer system, has long been spoken of as one of the most forceful economic moves the West can make. Only last week Joe Biden suggested the idea was off the table as the Europeans did not want to do it, with so many countries dependent on Russia’s natural gas. But after frantic negotiations, we have movement. The USA, UK, European Union and Canada have agreed plans to cut at least some of Russia’s banks out of the Swift as well as to work to stop the Russian central bank from accessing its vast reserves, estimated to total roughly $630 billion. But will this round of response get Vladimir Putin’s attention? 

One of the difficulties, so far, has been the discovery of just how prepared Putin was for the economic pain. Russia’s