Relations with the West today resemble fights without rules, but the time for games has passed, Russia must build new rules and interact with other countries who are ready for partnerships.
This opinion was expressed by the President – Chairman of the Board of VTB Bank Andrei Kostin: at the SPIEF-2023 session “Russian banking on the path of sovereign development: regrouping of forces and moving up”, which is supported by VTB.
“You know, I watched this film (“Upward Movement”) twice. There is one huge difference – we won then, because there were rules. International clear rules, which were adhered to, and this allowed our team to replay twice, or finish this match and achieve success. Today we find ourselves in a situation where these rules do not exist. Rather, these are fights without rules, rather, they are going on. Therefore, in this regard, there is no time for games, ”he said.
According to Kostin, today it is necessary to establish new rules for cooperation in that part of the world, “where there are no sanctions, no prohibitions, where there is no theft of money and assets: what happened to the Central Bank, to our bank, to our other colleagues who fell under sanctions”.
The main problem, the head of VTB said, not only in the banking sector, but also in the country’s economy as a whole, now lies in international settlements. “There are huge shifts. However, there is still a lot to be done here. There are high hopes for the work that banks are doing under the leadership of the Central Bank to create a digital ruble. It has actually already been created. It seems to me that today this is a very promising direction with the help of blockchain technologies – the creation of a multilateral settlement system based on digital currencies,” Kostin emphasized.
VTB is actively involved in the work on the digital ruble. Last year, the bank successfully tested a prototype of the Bank of Russia digital ruble platform with simultaneous testing of various operations – opening and closing wallets, transfers between individuals, as well as payments in favor of legal entities. The next step is to start testing on real digital money. As stated earlier, this will happen after the adoption of bills on the digital ruble. Testing will take place on a limited range of clients and employees of VTB, as well as other banks in the pilot. VTB has already formed such a focus group. Based on the results of the focus group, it will be possible to assess the readiness to launch digital ruble payments in general.
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