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Axios

@axios

Feb 26

BREAKING: EU and U.S. to expel some Russian banks from SWIFT payments system axios.com/eu-expels-russ…

Some European allies had previously expressed concern that disconnecting Russian banks' access to the primary system for global financial transactions would cause collateral economic damage. axios.com/eu-expels-russ…

The U.K. and Canada joined the U.S. and EU countries in the effort to cut off Russia from the world's most important financial messaging system. axios.com/eu-expels-russ…

Read 6 tweets

Axios

@axios

Feb 26

🧵: Zelensky has emerged as a unifying leader for Ukraine during the first days of the Russian invasion.

When he won the presidency, his closest qualification was playing a president on television.

Here's what to know about the actor-turned-leader ⬇️
axios.com/ukraine-volody…

Zelensky was a comedian and actor before soundly defeating Petro Poroshenko with more than 70% of the vote in 2019.

He had no political experience and named his political party after the TV sitcom on which he played a president, "Servant of the People."
axios.com/ukraine-volody…

Zelensky: "Throughout my entire life, I’ve tried to do everything so Ukrainians smiled. In the next five years, I will do everything so that you, Ukrainians, don’t cry."
axios.com/ukraine-volody…

Read 5 tweets

Axios

@axios

Feb 26

🧵: Everyone following the war in Ukraine seems to be talking about SWIFT — but many Americans are hearing about it for the first time this week.

Keep reading to find out what SWIFT does and why it matters to Russia ⬇️
axios.com/swift-russia-u…

SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, is a secure messaging service that more than 11k banks around the world use to communicate.

"Essentially, the Gmail of global banking," as Bloomberg explained yesterday.
axios.com/swift-russia-u…

Cutting Russian banks' access would isolate the country from the global financial community, and put more economic pressure on the Kremlin.

The U.S. and its European counterparts have so far held back from cutting off SWIFT, but it's not off the table.
axios.com/swift-russia-u…

Read 6 tweets

Axios

@axios

Feb 25

BREAKING: Biden to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, according to a source familiar with the matter. trib.al/1amGY1u

Jackson served for two years as a federal public defender and would be the first justice in decades with any significant experience representing criminal defendants. axios.com/biden-supreme-…

In many ways, she has the resume we’ve come to expect from Supreme Court justices:

Harvard Law, a SCOTUS clerkship, some time at prestigious corporate law firms, and a seat on the federal judiciary — specifically, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. axios.com/biden-supreme-…

Read 7 tweets

Axios

@axios

Feb 24

BREAKING: Biden announced that G7 leaders have agreed to impose new sanctions against Russia, including further measures on four financial institutions and sanctioning "Russian elites and their family members."

trib.al/cQ3S8rI

Biden said the purpose of the sanctions is to “limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen to be part of the global economy.”

axios.com/biden-sanction…

The president added that the U.S. has now sanctioned “Russian banks that together hold around $1 trillion in assets.”
axios.com/biden-sanction…

Read 4 tweets

Axios

@axios

Feb 24

HAPPENING NOW: Biden is addressing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and announcing sanctions against Russia.

Follow this thread for updates ⬇️
axios.com/ukraine-russia…

Biden: “This was never about a genuine security concern on their part. It was always about naked aggression — about Putin’s desire for empire, by any means necessary.”