Lavrov Says No Western Officials Demand Russia Be Cut Off From SWIFT

Muhammad Irfan Published June 09, 2021 | 05:16 PM

None of Western officials have demanded that Russia and China be switched off from the SWIFT system, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th June, 2021) None of Western officials have demanded that Russia and China be switched off from the SWIFT system, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"None of the Western officials have ever demanded, in my memory, to block SWIFT for Russia, for China or for anyone else. Certain politicians call for this, but this has never been confirmed either in the statements, I emphasize once again, by the official representatives of the leading Western countries, or in the statements of the representatives of the SWIFT system itself," Lavrov said at the Primakov Readings forum.

The minister added that though Russia sought to dedollarize the national economy and financial system, it had never intended to completely abandon the use of the US Currency.

"We really want to dedollarize our economy, our financial system. The other day, we made a decision that our international reserves would no longer be held in Dollars, and we have already done this. But let me stress this once again: this does not mean that we refuse to use the Dollar at all," Lavrov said.

Last month, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Economic Cooperation Dmitry Birichevsky told Sputnik that the SWIFT interbank system could get sucked into a new spiral of anti-Russia sanctions.

threats were coming from the US overCommenting on the matter, Lavrov said that proposals to ban Russia from SWIFT as part of a new sanctions package had been around for some time, but he did not know for sure what steps the West and the company itself would take regarding the issue. The top Russian diplomat also stressed that the country's relevant authorities were preparing for such a scenario.

The minister also noted that Moscow was not interested in destroying the mechanisms of the international monetary system, or the international economic system as a whole, as it would be harmful to all those involved in multilateral cooperation, without exception. However, in the face of such threats, the country will continue taking all necessary measures to ensure its interests and the interests of its partners.