However, the GOP has not reached full consensus on the Kremlin’s actions, with former President Donald Trump remaining an outlier in the party he ostensibly leads.
London said it would work with partners to cut Moscow from the international financial network
The UK government will try to persuade its allies to sever Russia from the SWIFT global banking system and impose a series of harsh sanctions following Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine. Washington earlier said it would not look to target the payment network.
“We will not rest until Russia’s economy has been degraded and Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity restored,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement, adding that “the UK is working with allies to exclude Russia from the SWIFT financial system.”
The UK will also:
❌ ban Aeroflot from UK airspace ❌ cut off wealthy Russians’ access to UK banks including limits on investments ❌ work with allies to ban Russia from the SWIFT financial system#StandWithUkraine 🇬🇧🇺🇦
— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) February 24, 2022
The British Foreign Commonwealth Office announced the new round of penalties on Thursday, describing them as the “most punishing sanctions” designed to “inflict maximum and lasting pain on Russia.”
London will also target more than 100 Russian companies with asset freezes and travel bans, shut out Russian banks from British financial markets, impose new trade and export restrictions and ban the country’s national airline, Aeroflot, from UK airspace.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier hinted at a “massive package of economic sanctions” meant to “hobble” Russia’s economy, words echoed by US President Joe Biden, whose administration also announced a raft of “unprecedented and expansive” measures to “degrade [Russia’s] industrial capacity for years to come.”
On SWIFT, however, Biden indicated that his administration would not take the same steps as the UK, saying that the sanctions he already outlined could have “more consequence” than any action toward the global payments network.
Similar sanctions were declared by a number of Western and EU allies, some of which also called to cut off Russia from SWIFT – all in response to Moscow’s “special military operation” launched in the Donbass in the early hours of Thursday in support of two newly recognized breakaway republics.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, however, has urged against excluding Moscow from the payment system, arguing that the measure should not be part of a second EU sanctions package set to be discussed in Brussels.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 24 (IPS) – “Woman, poor, black and illiterate” – most domestic workers suffer quadruple discrimination in Brazil, which made them more vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, says one of their leaders, Gloria Rejane Santos.
Until the middle of last year, most cryptocurrency mining took place in China. Then authorities pulled the plug. So Chinese bitcoin miners began moving their gear to U.S. towns like Kearney, Nebraska.
Abuse cases in the humanitarian sector remain underreported, despite efforts to tackle sexual exploitation, a watchdog has said
The UK government has failed to listen to victims of “sex for aid” scandals despite its efforts to address abuse in the humanitarian sector, an independent watchdog has said.
The report, released on Thursday by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), claims that the “top-down” approach taken by government officials falls short of what is required, because recipients of aid are not listened to and might remain reluctant to report abusive behavior.
ICAI said the UK “has played an important role in galvanising international action on protecting people from sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian crises,” but its commissioner Sir Hugh Bayley criticized officials for the system used.
“Its top-down approach requires those delivering UK aid to spend more time reporting back to the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] than listening to the people they are seeking to protect and addressing their needs,” Bayley said.
The UK launched its efforts to combat sexual exploitation within the aid sector in 2018 after claims that Oxfam employees had sexually exploited victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, with Britain later holding an international safeguarding summit.
Abuse cases are still being underreported, according to the ICAI’s findings, which cited a survey in Uganda where recipients remained hesitant to report cases over concerns about the length of the investigative process and fears over corruption.
Stephanie Draper, chief executive of Bond, a network of UK charities and NGOs, praised “important steps” taken by the FCDO but said that efforts had been hampered by the lack of information “around incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse and what works where, and how to address and prevent it.”
Responding to the claims, a spokesperson for the FCDO claimed the UK is a “world leader” in addressing abusive behavior within the aid sector. “We continue to prioritise this work, protecting the most vulnerable and making sure money does not go to organisations that fall short of high safeguarding standards,” the Guardian quoted the representative as saying.
