The EU has moved to exclude seven Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the global provider of secure financial messaging services.

The move comes on the back of the continued evasion of Russian forces into Ukraine and the banks have been given a 10 day notification period to wind down their SWIFT transactions.

The banks on the list include Russia's second-largest bank, VTB, along with Bank Otrkitie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank and VEB.

Banks on the list were selected because of their "implicit connection to the war effort", according to a senior EU official.

"All these banks that we have listed under SWIFT they are all based on their connection to the state and the implicit connection to the war effort. We have not gone for a blanket ban across the whole banking system," the EU official said.

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The EU has made an exception for Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, along with Gazprombank, as they are both used as the main payment line for European countries to pay for Russia's gas and oil.

According to the EU official, SWIFT is unable to differentiate between energy-related transactions and exclude other payment types and therefore the two banks remain within the payment provider as European countries continue to purchase Russian energy despite the war.

Alongside the US, Canada and Britain, the EU moved over the weekend to block Russian banks from SWIFT, although they had not named any individual organisations.