UNITED NATIONS, April 25. /TASS/. Western countries do not intend to connect Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) back to SWIFT, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

"Rosselkhozbank, the main lender servicing our agriculture exports, has been cut off from the SWIFT system, and no one is going to connect it back," he told a press conference following a visit to New York as part of Moscow's presidency of the UN Security Council. "We are offered some one-time alternatives instead," the top diplomat added.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has turned to three US banks asking to replace SWIFT and help Russian Agricultural Bank to service export transactions, Lavrov noted. "It took several months, and indeed, one of the banks kindly consented to finance one transaction. When we are told to base future work on this principle, it is not serious," the minister stressed, adding that it is necessary to simply connect the Russian bank back to SWIFT if the West wants to systemically solve the issue of the lack of food.