28.02.2022, Moscow.
Russia one way or another would leave the international interbank payment system SWIFT, regardless of the sanctions of the West. Economist Vyacheslav Zaychenko stated this on February 27 in a commentary to Rossa Primavera News Agency.
“We are already considering options to leave SWIFT. We will leave SWIFT in any case. The West may disconnect us from the system or not, we’ll give up SWIFT for sure,” said the economist.
According to him, options to work through the Chinese system of transfers are being considered.
“I believe that the sanctions pose absolutely no risk to the Russian economy. In fact, SWIFT is a postal program, which has the ability to additionally connect financial transactions. This is not some panacea,” the expert noted.
According to the economist, as soon as the sanctioned banks switch to any other system of interbank payments, they will be able to conduct financial transactions quietly.
The disconnection from SWIFT, Zaychenko concluded, may cause only temporary difficulties for people who are often engaged in commercial transactions and for individuals who are going to buy goods on foreign sites.
In response to Russia’s special operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, the US and its allies imposed a new series of anti-Russian sanctions. These include the freezing of Russian bank assets, refusal to lend to Russian companies, restrictions on foreign currency transactions, and targeted sanctions against individuals.
Critics of these measures, who consider the sanctions insufficient, call for disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT system.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency