The head of VTB, Andrei Kostin, said that the disconnection of Russian banks from the international payment system SWIFT with increased sanctions will mean a break in relations between Russia and the United States, TASS reports on Friday, January 23 .

Kostin recalled that at present Russia has already created its own payment system, “which can replace SWIFT, and is also negotiating with partners from China.” But I want to emphasize that if this (disconnection from SWIFT) happens, it will lead to a sharp deterioration relations between the USA and Russia. The next day, both the US ambassador in Moscow and the Russian ambassador in Washington can leave,” said the head of VTB.

He recalled that something similar had already happened between the United States and Iran. As a result, according to Kostin, political dialogue and “any other relations” between the two countries ceased.

The head of VTB also expressed the opinion that now the situation is actually “on the brink of war or a cold war.” “This is not a question of VTB or the banking system. This is a very dangerous situation in which no one is interested,” believes Andrei Kostin.

In December, Kostin already warned the West against disconnecting Russian banks from SWIFT. “In my personal opinion, imposing this type of sanctions would mean war,” he said at the time.

Over the past months, European and American politicians have repeatedly called for Russia to be disconnected from SWIFT due to the situation in eastern Ukraine. in favor of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT in the event of an escalation of the conflict in Donbass In mid-September, European parliamentarians spoke . At the end of the same month, a number of American senators turned to the US Treasury with a request to disconnect Russian banks against which Washington had imposed sanctions from SWIFT. However, the company itself stated that it does not plan to do this.

Amid statements about a possible disconnection from SWIFT, the Central Bank decided to create an alternative system of international payments. In mid-November, Ramilya Kanafina, deputy director of the national payment system department of the Bank of Russia , said that in May 2015 the Central Bank plans to launch its financial message transmission system. In mid-December, the National Payment Card System (NSCP) began test connections of banks.

Founded in 1973, the international payment system SWIFT is based in Brussels. In the entire history of its existence, SWIFT was disconnected once, in 2012, when, under international pressure, a decision was made to disconnect Iranian banks from the payment system.

Kostin compared the shutdown of SWIFT to a severance of relations with the United States