MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. No Western sanctions will limit Russia’s foreign trade, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview with Nailya Asker-Zade broadcast on the Rossiya-24 TV channel, adding that the country’s imports are on the rise, while trade turnover is improving.
"Russia’s trade turnover has been increasing, improving recently. Imports have grown in recent months," he said, adding that "despite all restrictions the participants of foreign trade transactions, foreign trade activities will still find possibilities to pay for supplied or acquired goods." "So, no restrictions being imposed will limit foreign trade," the minister noted.
All restrictions that Western countries impose affect themselves in the first place, Siluanov said. "The Russian economy, which has seen more than 2,000 various restrictions imposed against it, is on the rise. This year the economic growth dynamics will be around 4%, whereas the dynamics in the West is around zero, 0.1% at best," he said.
Active work is underway within BRICS on establishing alternative ways of payments, the minister said, adding that the issue was discussed at a recent summit in Kazan.
"We spoke about modernization of financial infrastructure in general. The issue is both about payments and the creation of depository links, the issue is both about creating insurance and reinsurance in foreign trade. This is why the creation of such a trans-border mechanism with the use of digital financial assets is only one of the elements. I think that our partners increasingly understand the reasonability of creating such an alternative to ordinary payments using the currencies of Western countries now as all those payments may be exposed to certain risks not only for the Russian Federation but also for other partners," Siluanov explained.
Moscow’s initiative will be considered as one of the most important issues on the BRICS agenda, the minister added.