Fingers crossed for Russia-Ukraine peace talks to work

Political analysts warn that if peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to put an end to its invasion fail, that would have dire economic implications.

Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations will take place on Monday, on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his country’s deterrence forces, including nuclear arms, be placed on high alert.

Political Scientist from the University of Pretoria, Roland Henwood, says a peaceful resolution is highly unlikely as Russia has shattered peace in Europe, ushering in the most serious threat to Europe.

Henwood says, “The bottom line is that there is no real development that indicates that the situation is right for an agreement to end the war. The Russians have not run into problems that may make Putin stop the war and Ukraine has not achieved anything that may threaten Russia.”

“At this stage it seems they are not going to win any conversion conflict. That indicates that it’s not a situation in which the negotiations are going to change anything,” added Henwood.

South Africa calls on Russia’s immediate withdrawal:

Russia sanctions:

Senior management and compliance teams at major banks were working around the clock this weekend to understand the raft of new sanctions imposed on Russia and its banking system in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Banks were scrambling to ensure they understood the full implications of the restrictions, including the banning of certain Russian lenders from the SWIFT international payment system, sources at major global banks said. The SWIFT measure was announced Saturday without naming the affected Russian banks, leaving the sector waiting for details.

With global financial markets set to open within hours, bankers described staff working on overdrive to apply the sanctions, including frantic calls to governments and regulators to fill in gaps in knowledge.

One European bank source said it was imploring authorities for more time to make system changes for full compliance in what the source described as a fast-moving, fluid situation.

Russian-Ukraine peace talks:

While global banks have extensive experience with sanctions and have invested heavily in compliance programs in recent years, the scale of the restrictions imposed on a major country such as Russia is unprecedented, said industry sources.

While banks in Iran and North Korea have been kicked off SWIFT before, their banks are not significant global trade participants, those sources said.

Banks generally exercise extreme caution and would do so until the picture is clear, a source at one US bank said, noting that it was prioritising changes that needed immediate implementation.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase declined to comment. Bank of America did not respond to requests for comment.

Widespread sanctions for Russia: