President Joe Biden said Thursday the United States and its international allies have decided not to cut Russia off from the SWIFT international payments system as punishment for invading Ukraine, though the measure has been left on the table as a last resort in case the situation escalates.
Biden told a press briefing on Feb. 24 that Russia would not be frozen out of SWIFT, the messaging system banks use to settle cross-border payments and that is a key mechanism for financing international trade.
