The disconnection of several Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system could help develop trade in national currencies between Russia and Turkey, the Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM) told TASS on Friday.
"The disconnection of a number of Russian banks from the SWIFT system may contribute to the further development of trade between Russia and Turkey in national currencies. Despite the imposition of sanctions and restrictions [against Russia], exports in Turkish lira increased by almost 100% in February this year," the organization stressed.
In addition, the SWIFT disconnection will not affect deliveries of agricultural products to Russia, the Turkish Exporters' Assembly added.
"The disconnection from SWIFT will not affect the supply of Turkish agricultural products to Russia. However, it may lead to some problems with the payment of goods. For example, there may be delays in this issue," the organization believes.
Russia and Turkey signed an agreement on settlements and payments in national currencies in October 2019. The agreement also provides for further expansion of the infrastructure for accepting Russian Mir cards in Turkey and connecting Turkish banks and companies to the Bank of Russia's financial messaging system, the Russian equivalent of SWIFT.
Russia faced a wave of international consolidated sanctions at the end of February due to the start of the military special operation in Ukraine.
In particular, the US and the EU imposed sanctions on the Russian banking system, while VTB, Rossiya and Otkritie banks, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and VEB.RF were disconnected from the SWIFT system. In addition, the US and EU sanctions affected Russia's sovereign debt and the operations of the Central Bank of Russia.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
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Based on materials from TASS