Russia advocates developing independent payment mechanisms amid threats from Western countries to cut it from the SWIFT network for financial transactions, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st December, 2020) Russia advocates developing independent payment mechanisms amid threats from Western countries to cut it from the SWIFT network for financial transactions, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.
Moscow has been working on its alternatives to Western financial services mechanism in light of increased threats to restrict its access following the reintegration of Crimea in 2014.
"As for SWIFT, this is one of the topics on which those who would like to prevent the situation from straightening out and want to aggravate it, continue to press their ultimatums, press their threats ... The conclusion is very simple: to develop our own mechanisms that will not keep our countries dependent on the West," Lavrov said at a press conference after a meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
In 2017, Russia launched the System for Transfer of Financial Messages as a replacement for SWIFT. Since then, it has been working to bring other countries on board in abandoning SWIFT.
