Russia moves from SWIFT to more secure mechanisms: FM

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Alexander Pankin revealed that the Bank of Russia is actively developing the Financial Message Transmission System.

Russia believes that a gradual shift from the SWIFT interbank payment system to more secure channels for sending financial information protected from external pressure is necessary, according to Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin in an interview for TASS.

"We proceed from the need for a gradual transition from SWIFT to financial information transfer mechanisms protected from external pressure, for which we are actively developing the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) of the Bank of Russia. This is a forced, but completely natural decision in an environment where Russian banks and their clients regularly encounter problems with routine international payments," he said.

"At the same time, we are certain that not only Russia, but also other pragmatic states, of which there are many, are interested in the emergence of a truly unbiased and independent of Western countries' changing moods international payment infrastructure," the diplomat added.

Russia in talks to use Mir card

The barring of all Russian clients by the main international payment networks is illogical, according to Pankin.

To this end, Russia is discussing the use of the Mir payment card with several states, such as Azerbaijan, China, and Egypt, Pankin said in the interview.

"The unreasonable blocking of all Russian customers by the largest international card payment systems has increased the priority of expanding the geography of using Mir cards. We are actively working on it," he said.

"Negotiations with Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, India, China, Cuba, Myanmar, Nigeria, Thailand, and other countries are at different stages," the top Russian diplomat said.

He recalled that the Russian payment system is now available in Abkhazia, Armenia, Belarus, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, South Korea, and South Ossetia.