Russia explains why it is "immune" to the US banking crisis

Central Bank of Russia (Photo: CNBC).

"Of course, our banking system has certain connections with some segments of the international financial system, but most of them are illegally restricted," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on March 14.

He added that the sanctions imposed by the West were fortunate because they made Russia immune to the negative impact of the current crisis.

On the same day, President Vladimir Putin affirmed that Russia's economy will become stronger and more independent from Western sanctions.

"We have faced economic sanctions many times. What did our opponents calculate? Will we collapse in 2-3 weeks or in a month? That's what they were calculating. They thought that businesses, partners would refuse to cooperate with us, the financial system would collapse and thousands, tens of thousands of people would lose their jobs, would take to the streets to protest... But this did not happen," the Kremlin leader said.

Russia's financial sector has been the target of sanctions by the US and its Western allies since Moscow launched its military campaign in Ukraine. Last year, the US blocked Russia's access to 10 key banks in the SWIFT international financial system, which handles global banking transactions. Washington also imposed sanctions on Sberbank, Russia's largest state-owned bank, prohibiting it from processing payments through the US financial system. In response to this pressure, Russia has created its own payment system, called SPFS, to replace SWIFT in its domestic market.

The comments came amid concerns over the global financial markets following the collapse of two major US banks, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The Silicon Valley Bank incident marked the second-largest collapse of a financial institution in US history.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/nga-giai-thich-ly-do-mien-nhiem-voi-khung-hoang-ngan-hang-my-20230315184640148.htm