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The Kremlin said Russia will not be affected by it the US banking crisis.
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A Kremlin spokesman said Russia is “insured” against the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
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Sanctions due to the war in Ukraine have cut Russia off from the international financial system.
It has been an eventful week for US banks. But the Kremlin is looking on the bright side.
Russia is now so cut off from the global financial system that the Kremlin believes it will not be affected by the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank.
“Our banking system has certain ties to some segments of the international financial system, but it is largely under illegal restrictions from the collective West,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to state news agency TASS. He referred to sanctions against the country because of the invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
“We are insured to some extent against the negative consequences of the crisis that is now unfolding abroad,” Peskov said, according to the media outlet.
By contrast, Russia – like much of the world – faced a credit crunch as a result of the fallout from the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, which eventually led to the global financial crisis.
As the country recovered from the recession, it began working towards its grand ambition of making Moscow a global financial center. But that dream is now bruised with Russia under sweeping sanctions.
International banks and accounting giants have pulled out of Russia or are preparing to leave because of the war in Ukraine. Two days after the invasion, some Russian banks were also banned from SWIFT, the Belgium-based messaging service that allows banks around the world to communicate about cross-border transactions. This ban has hampered cross-border transactions for Russia’s trading and financial systems, leaving the country economically and financially isolated. The country also faces restrictions on its main energy exports, including a price cap of $60 per barrel of oil.
Still, Russian President Vladimir Putin has touted the resilience of the Russian economy, and the country’s statistical service said GDP contracted by just 2.1% in 2022 – although there are some doubts about the numbers as it stopped recording last year publishing certain key economic statistics.
Indeed, aluminum oligarch Oleg Deripaska told Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum that Russia “will need foreign investors” as his funds are running low, Bloomberg reported on March 2.
“There will be no money next year already,” Deripaska said, according to the media outlet.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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