“As you know, excluding Russian banks from SWIFT remains limited,” said Melnyk.

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“The decision has really affected only a few banks, with hundreds more banks remaining untouched. Dozens of schemes that allow to circumvent these restrictions can't be ruled out, either.”

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In March 2022, the EU disconnected seven Russian banks from SWIFT, including Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank, Vnesheconombank (VEB), and VTB Bank. Three more Russian major banks were added to the list in June: Sberbank, Rosselkhozbank, and Moscow Credit Bank.

However, four out of ten Russian banks that fund Russian defense industry weren't banned from SWIFT, Ukrainian private research organization StateWatch reported in June.

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