ANKARA, March 11. /TASS/. The disconnection of a number of Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system may contribute to the development of trade in national currencies between Russia and Turkey, an official of 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 of this year," the official said.

Russia and Turkey signed an agreement on settlements and payments in national currencies in October 2019. The agreement also provides for the further expansion of the infrastructure for accepting Russian Mir payment cards in Turkey and the connection of Turkish banks and companies to the Bank of Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) - the Russian analogue of SWIFT.

In late February, Russia faced a wave of international consolidated sanctions due to the start of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine.

In particular, the US and the EU imposed sanctions against the Russian banking system, while VTB, Rossiya and Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and VEB.RF were disconnected from the SWIFT system. In addition, the US and EU sanctions affected the public debt of the Russian Federation and the operations of the Bank of Russia.