Threats to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT system come mainly from the United States of America. It may lead to involvement of SWIFT in a “sanctions spiral” against the Russian Federation, director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Dmitry Birichevsky said.

According to him, there is no talk of disconnecting the Russian Federation from the SWIFT system yet, but the country is preparing for such an event and is creating an analogue of SWIFT.

SWIFT is a global interbank payment information exchange system. SWIFT is headquartered in Belgium.

“It is no secret that there are threats, especially from the United States, to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT system,” said Mr. Birichevsky. However, he noted that sanctions could be imposed only by a legitimate body, namely, the UN Security Council, under international law.

“The measures taken by a country or a group of countries cannot be called sanctions: sanctions can be imposed by a decision of the authorized structure. The measures our Western partners apply are rather barriers to protect their own producers and protect their own interests on the world stage. There are fears that the SWIFT system may be involved in this “sanctions spiral,” – Dmytro Birichevsky explained.

The Russian Federation will actually find itself in financial isolation in case of disconnection from SWIFT because SWIFT is tied to the world banking system. All exports and imports of the Russian Federation will be hit.