The U.S., European Union, Canada and U.K. announced they will move forward against Russia and ban selected Russian banks from the SWIFT financial network. They also announced they will place restrictions on Russia's central bank targeting more than $600 billion in reserves.

The option to ban Russia from SWIFT was considered in 2014 when Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine’s Crimea and backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. Russia declared then, that blocking the country from SWIFT would be equivalent to a declaration of war.