TASS — Russia’s disconnection from SWIFT tantamount to atomic weapon — Polish foreign minister

Economic warfare.

A possible decision to disconnect Russia from international financial message system SWIFT can be compared to an "atomic weapon," Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said on Friday. 

"If we speak about sanctions, this is an atomic weapon, an extreme measure. There is still a long list of sanctions that can be used before that. But it should be borne in mind that this weapon acts in both ways and can strike against all of us," the Polish foreign minister said at a joint press conference with UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Warsaw.... 

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on late January Russia would have no limits in its response to the country’s possible disconnection from the SWIFT system.
"We’ll watch developments and if such decisions are made, I want to note that our economic reaction and generally any other reaction will be without limits," he said.

Disconnection from SWIFT would disconnect Russia from Europe, ending financial transactions, debt repayment, etc. and it would likely provoke hardship — think immediate suspension of energy shipments — if not a financial crisis in Europe, too. It would also swiftly undermine SWIFT as a global payment system, destroying its credibility. Just bringing up the possibility has begun to undermine global cooperation based on using Western institutions. The damage has already been done. Workarounds are already in the works, and it is likely an irrevocable shift.

TASS

Russia’s disconnection from SWIFT tantamount to atomic weapon — Polish foreign minister