The US plans to sever ties with key Russian banks in the event of an invasion of Ukraine.

 President Joe Biden’s administration has prepared an initial package of sanctions against Russia that includes barring US financial institutions from processing transactions for Russian central banks, reported Reuters. The measures will only be implemented if Russia invades Ukraine, aiming to hurt the Russian economy by eliminating the correspondent banking relationships between targeted Russian banks and US banks that enable international payments. The banks that are to be targeted include VTB Bank, Sberbank, VEB, and Gazprombank. The sanctions will also affect certain Russian individuals and companies by placing them on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, effectively kicking them out of the US banking system, banning trade with Americans, and freezing their US assets.