He said the sanctions already proposed on all the banks are of equal consequence and perhaps even exceed banning Russia from Swift.

“Let’s have a conversation in another month or so to see if they’re working,” he says.

He said the move “is always an option but right now it’s not the position the rest of Europe wishes to take.”

UK PM Boris Johnson said earlier there was a potential to use Swift as a sanction and “nothing is off the table.”

The US will stop Russia’s ability to finance and grow its military, the US president said.

“We’ve now sanctioned Russian banks that together hold one trillion dollars in assets,” Biden said.

President Biden reiterated that US forces “are not, and will not” be engaged in the conflict with Russia in Ukraine.

“Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our Nato allies and reassure those allies in the east,” he says. “The United States will defend every inch of Nato territory with the full force of American power.”