Russia will use other opportunities if it is disconnected from SWIFT, but Moscow is not rejecting the system yet, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin told Sputnik.
“We are not abandoning SWIFT yet, but if we are denied SWIFT, we will use [other systems],” Pankin said.
He said the issue of possible partners in case of developing an alternative to SWIFT was not being discussed yet.
Earlier, Pankin said in an interview with Sputnik that Russia did not rule out the formation of a system on a new technological basis alternative to SWIFT.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier that Russia saw great prospects in working with its foreign partners to gradually move away from the use of the dollar in mutual settlements and switch to national or alternative currencies and abandon the use of payment systems controlled by the West.
Media have regularly reported that Russia could be disconnected from the network of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication as part of tougher Western sanctions.