MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. The European Union and Western countries have shown many times that they are not reliable partners for Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference following talks with his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva.
He was commenting on the proposal to unplug Russia from the SWIFT payment system.
"The European Union and the West in its entirety have repeatedly proven in specific cases that they are an unreliable partner. There can be situations when unlawful decisions will be made out of nowhere," he said.
The foreign minister pointed out that Russia would like all the concluded agreements to be fulfilled, but there are many negative examples.
Lavrov noted that the government and the relevant agencies are working on solutions they can use in the event the country is disconnected from the international payment system.
"I am sure that our government, the Central Bank, and the relevant financial authorities are hammering out possible solutions if an attempt is made to undermine our ability to ensure free exchange within the multilateral trading system, as part of the World Trade Organization," the top diplomat said.
He recalled that at a recent meeting of the intergovernmental council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the members states discussed a more active use of national currencies in settlements.
"In general, they also discussed the transition to currencies that will not depend on the dollar, whose position has been grossly abused by the United States for many years," the Russian chief diplomat noted.
Earlier, the European Parliament adopted a resolution aimed at Russia calling for sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, the Rosatom nuclear corporation, "Russian oligarchs", as well as disconnecting the country from the SWIFT international payment system in the event of an "invasion of Ukraine".