Kremlin: Russia will benefit from being disconnected from SWIFT
Disconnecting from the SWIFT international payments system, which is being discussed as part of a package of sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine, will benefit Russia, said at a press conference on Friday the head of the Russian State Duma Committee on Industry, Vladimir Gutenev.
"If they do take such monstrous measures, which, in my opinion, will destroy the global financial system, we will get a number of benefits," he said.
According to Gutenev, many countries will begin to switch to SWIFT alternatives such as its Russian counterpart - the Bank of Russia System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) launched in 2016.
As a result, both Russia and other "fugitives" from SWIFT will escape from " the watchful eye of American special services," for whom SWIFT is "absolutely transparent," Gutenev said.
"Almost all payments that take place even within our country are an "open book" for them. And such an information striptease, amid competition in global markets, puts us in an extremely disadvantageous situation," he added.
“Although SWIFT is used by 11 thousand financial institutions, it is not a universal system, and besides, disconnecting Russia at the request of the United States alone is impossible,” Gutenev continued.
"But the United States cannot shut us down without the EU. Theoretically, the EU can jointly make such a decision, but I believe that this is not very possible," Gutenev said.