The 27 countries of the European Union agreed, during a summit in Brussels, on Monday evening, to exclude "Sberbank", the largest bank in Russia, from the SWIFT system for international money transfers.

This came as part of a sixth package of European sanctions against Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine.

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"This package of sanctions includes tough measures such as excluding Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, from Swift," said European Council President Charles Michel.

Sberbank is the largest bank in Russia, as it controls about a third of the country's banking sector.

The inclusion of this financial institution on the list of sanctions imposed on Russia will increase the isolation of the Russian financial system at a time when the Russian military operation in Ukraine entered its fourth month.