MOSCOW, November 15. /TASS/. Reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank (RSHB) to the SWIFT system is still under negotiation, Kirill Levin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Russian Agricultural Bank, said during a telephone conference with reporters.

"Connecting a European subsidiary of the bank to SWIFT does not help in any way in making payments for Russian agricultural products and fertilizers. Our colleagues and counterparties from the UN agreed that this option does not have any meaning or prospects. But the reconnection of RSHB to SWIFT is still pending at the negotiation stage," he said.

In July, the Financial Times reported citing sources that Brussels was allegedly studying the possibility of connecting a specially created branch of RSHB to SWIFT. The RSHB denied this information. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that connecting the subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT is "deliberately impractical." Reconnecting RSHB to SWIFT is one of Russia’s demands as part of the grain deal.

On June 3, 2022, the EU Council finally adopted the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, including the disconnection of most Russian banks from SWIFT. RSHB is not under EU and US sanctions, but was also disconnected from SWIFT.

The Russian Agricultural Bank (RSHB) is one of the largest banks in Russia, it is fully owned by the state. It was created in 2000 to develop the national credit and financial system of the agro-industrial sector and rural areas of the country.