The United States and Europe are discussing the possibility of disconnecting not all of Russia from SWIFT, but individual banks and organizations, CNN reports , citing sources. New sanctions may be introduced if Kyiv falls. American leader Joe Biden and his aides have repeatedly emphasized that, for European economic reasons, it is difficult to disconnect Russia from SWIFT and that the United States cannot act unilaterally.

Mastercard warned Russian banks that fell under US sanctions to suspend their participation in the international payment system. Notifications were received by VTB, Otkritie, Sovcombank, Promsvyazbank and Novikombank. The cards of these banks will stop working abroad and in foreign online stores. The exclusion of sanctioned banks from the system is reported by RBC, citing two sources in the payment market.

Today, since about noon, Russian users have noted interruptions in the work of social networks Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, as well as a slowdown in the work of the Telegram messenger. The day before, on February 25, Roskomnadzor announced a partial restriction of access to Facebook, calling it a retaliatory measure for blocking the accounts of the Russian media Zvezda, RIA Novosti, Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru.

The United States is considering imposing sanctions against the Russian Central Bank, Bloomberg reports citing sources. A decision has not yet been made, but if it does, a significant portion of Russia's $643.2 billion in international reserves will be at risk. According to Bloomberg, the adoption of restrictive measures against the Central Bank in the United States was allowed at the end of January.

Nearly two dozen countries have closed their airspace to Russia in recent days. Moscow responds in kind. We are updating the list of countries with which air communication is closed with Russia online. European countries one after another announce the closure of the air continues to close the airspace for Russian aircraft. announced this intention on February 27 Ireland , Denmark , Belgium , Iceland , Sweden , Finland , Germany and Austria .

On the afternoon of February 25, Vladimir Putin ordered a halt to the advance of Russian troops pending negotiations with Ukraine, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. But now, after Kyiv's refusal to negotiate, Putin ordered the "special operation" to be resumed. “The President of Russia gave the order to suspend the advance of the main forces of the Russian troops. True, hostilities continued in a number of places, ”Peskov said ( quoted by RBC).

The EU published its new sanctions package on the night of Friday to Saturday. The restrictions affected the deposits of Russians and Russian companies in European banks. The decision is published in the Official Journal of the EU. What's happened? The new sanctions package, which was approved by the European Union, has limits on the amount of deposits of Russians and Russian companies.

Roskomnadzor demanded that several publications remove materials about Ukraine, including because the “special operation” was called “war” in them. If they refuse, they face a ban. The information “about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and the death of civilians in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian Army” is considered by the RKN to be “not true”. This also includes materials in which "the operation is called an attack, an invasion, or a declaration of war," the report says .

The United States is seriously considering the possibility of disconnecting Russia from the international interbank SWIFT system for a military operation on the territory of Ukraine, Bloomberg learned . Just a few days ago, such an idea seemed unlikely, but now the Europeans approve of it, the sources say. According to the agency, the Joe Biden administration is discussing the issue of SWIFT with the Federal Reserve System (FRS), which acts as the oversight body for the system.

The EU published its new sanctions package on the night of Friday to Saturday. The restrictions will affect five sectors: financial, energy, transport, as well as export and visa control.

Roskosmos is recalling specialists from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana and suspending launches of Soyuz rockets from this site. The decision was made in response to new EU sanctions. “<...> Roscosmos suspends cooperation with European partners in organizing space launches from the Kourou cosmodrome and recalls its technical staff, including the consolidated launch crew, from French Guiana,” wrote the head of the state corporation Dmitry Rogozin in Telegram .

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has banned advertising and monetization of Russian state-owned media around the world, and will continue to label them accordingly. According to Meta security policy chief Nathaniel Gletcher, the rollout of the changes has begun and will continue on Saturday and Sunday, with the company closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine.

The S&P rating agency has downgraded Russia's long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating from BBB- to BB+, transferring it to the junk category. Ukraine's rating has been downgraded to B-. S&P stated that the Russian military invasion threatens the economic development, financial stability and budget of Ukraine, and the sanctions imposed on Russia could have a significant negative impact on the economy as a whole, trade relations and financial stability.