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Anti-Russian sanctions

Kremlin urges not to believe speculation about alleged sanctions against Russian banks

Dmitry Peskov also recalled that representatives of the SWIFT system had previously said that it was virtually impossible to disconnect Russia from it

MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged not to believe speculation in the media about allegedly possible sanctions against Russian state-owned banks and to focus on the official statements of Western countries.

"We should not rely on various speculation in the media, which is often baseless or based on some rumors that have not been verified or confirmed in any way," Peskov said.

"Let’s focus on the official bodies of those countries that are addicted to sanctions," he added.

Peskov also recalled that representatives of the SWIFT system had previously said that it was virtually impossible to disconnect Russia from it. "Let's not lose sight of this either. We should focus on specific statements, and not on media speculation, which is now widely available," he concluded.

The Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Monday citing sources that the United States and the European Union were not considering the option of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT any longer and were discussing targeted economic sanctions against the largest Russian banks instead.

The US and the EU are considering the response in case of a military operation of Russia against Ukraine for several weeks, the newspaper said. Cutting Russia from SWIFT is "too delicate" for participants in talks, the newspaper said. This step could lead to the short-term destabilization of financial markets and promote the development of an alternative payment infrastructure bypassing western currencies in the midterm, Handelsblatt said.

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