LONDON, February 27. /TASS/. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the decision to disconnect several Russian banks from the SWIFT global interbank system as the first step towards excluding Russia from the global financial system.

"We have taken decisive action tonight with our international partners to shut Russia out of the global financial system, including the important first step of ejecting Russian banks from SWIFT," Johnson said in a Twitter post. "We will keep working together to ensure Putin pays the price for his aggression."

The European Union, in cooperation with the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, is set to disconnect several Russian banks from the international SWIFT system, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday. The countries also plan to freeze assets of the Russian Central Bank and prohibit Russian businessmen from using their assets on European markets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Its objectives are demilitarization and denazification of the country.

After the announcement, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and some other countries announced they were imposing sanctions on Russian officials and individuals.