ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Tuesday urged tougher action against Russian oligarchs and more pressure on Russia’s central bank over the invasion of Ukraine.
The European Union on Monday added top Kremlin-linked oligarchs and President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman to its sanctions blacklist.
More wide-sweeping measures, including prohibiting transactions with Russia’s central bank, have helped send the Russian economy into turmoil.
Italy, the eurozone’s third largest economy, “is ready for further restrictive measures, should they be necessary”, Draghi told lawmakers in the Senate on Tuesday.
“In particular, I have proposed to take further targeted measures against oligarchs. The idea is to create an international public register of those with assets of more than 10 million euros.”
He also said the international community should “intensify further the pressure on Russia’s central bank”, without giving details.
And Draghi, a former head of the European Central Bank, said the Switzerland-based Bank of International Settlements should “participate in sanctions”.
The BIS, dubbed the central bank for central banks, acts as a neutral space where central bankers can meet and discuss monetary policy issues.
On Monday, BIS spokeswoman Jill Forden said it would follow sanctions and not be an avenue for sanctions “to be circumvented”.
Elsewhere in his speech, Draghi repeated his government’s advice that Italians in Kyiv should leave and exercise “maximum caution”.
He said Italian embassy staff had moved to the ambassador’s residence together with a group of Italians, including children, he said.
“Eighty-seven people have gathered in the residence, of whom 72 are expected to leave today,” he said.
© Agence France-Presse
