Russia prepared in advance for the sanctions introduced in recent days, so the country has every opportunity and potential to reduce emerging risks.

This was announced on Saturday, February 26, by the press secretary of the President of the country Dmitry Peskov.

“The sanctions are very serious - several waves of sanctions that have followed in the past few days.

We also prepared seriously and in advance for them, so they are basically predictable, ”said the Kremlin spokesman.

According to him, now an additional analysis of the imposed restrictions and coordination of the work of the relevant departments will be required.

At the same time, the authorities are already taking measures to minimize damage and ensure the smooth operation of all sectors of the economy, Peskov stressed.

Recall that the first package of new anti-Russian restrictions was introduced by the United States, the EU and a number of other countries after Vladimir Putin announced the recognition of the independence of the DPR and LPR on February 21.

Later, on February 24, the head of state announced the start of a military operation to protect Donbass from aggression from Ukraine.

The reaction of the West followed immediately, and Washington, along with its allies, announced tougher restrictions.

The restrictive measures mainly affected the Russian banking sector.

In particular, Sberbank was under US sanctions.

Within a month, all financial institutions in the United States will have to close correspondent accounts with the organization and subsequently reject any transactions involving the bank or its subsidiaries.

All dollar payments that Sberbank attempts to make to its customers must also be rejected when they reach US banks.

In addition, the US authorities banned Sberbank from raising money on the American capital market.

It was decided to impose a similar restriction on Gazprombank, Rosselkhozbank, Alfa-Bank and Moscow Credit Bank.

In addition, the US has imposed so-called blocking sanctions on VTB, Promsvyazbank, FC Otkritie, Sovcombank, Novikombank, and their subsidiaries.

American companies will be banned from working with these organizations, and their assets in the US will be frozen.

The European Union, in turn, introduced restrictions against Alfa-Bank, Promsvyazbank, FC Otkritie and Rossiya Bank.

In relation to these credit institutions, EU citizens and institutions are prohibited from transacting, investing and performing operations with securities that were issued after April 12, 2022.

Sanctions effect

Against the backdrop of the introduction of restrictions, bank cards of all credit institutions in Russia will continue to work to pay for goods and services, transfers and transactions through ATMs without restrictions.

This was reported in the press service of the Central Bank.

The Central Bank separately emphasized that the funds of customers of all banks on accounts linked to cards are saved and available to citizens at any time.

“Cards issued by banks that have fallen under the sanctions of Western states also work and will work throughout Russia without restrictions.

Client funds on accounts linked to cards are also fully saved and available,” the Bank of Russia said.

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At the same time, customers of VTB, Promsvyazbank, FC Otkritie, Sovcombank and Novikombank will not be able to pay with Visa and Mastercard cards abroad, transfer money abroad, or pay for purchases in foreign online stores.

In this regard, banks recommend that their clients, in case of trips abroad, withdraw cash in advance and pay with it on the territory of other states.

In addition, due to sanctions, customers of these five banks will not be able to pay for purchases using Apple Pay and Google Pay services.

Nevertheless, standard contact or contactless payment with the cards of these credit institutions is available in full on the territory of Russia.

Note that there are no such restrictions for clients of other banks.

“In general, the banking sector maintains its efficiency.

Domestically, operations are and will continue to be carried out without any major obstacles.

There is no panic that people are massively withdrawing money from banks.

As for deposits, everything should be fine with them too, ”said Alexander Abramov, head of the laboratory for the analysis of institutions and financial markets at the Institute for Applied Economic Research of the RANEPA, in an interview with RT.

To date, there are no restrictions on cash withdrawals in all banks, with the exception of standard card limits.

In addition, currency exchange is available in the applications and offices of most credit institutions (except Sovcombank).

The applications themselves, as well as online versions of banks, continue to work as usual.

Note that as a result of the sanctions, the Promsvyazbank application was removed from the App Store and Google Play.

However, the applications installed on smartphones work, and all operations on them are available, the press service of the organization noted.

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Without unnecessary risks

According to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the government and the Central Bank, together with major companies and credit institutions, have formed plans to protect against sanctions and other threats.

Now the Cabinet of Ministers and the Central Bank continue to monitor the situation and, if necessary, are ready to provide additional support to systemically important banks, the minister stressed.

“Currently, there are no financial stability risks.

Banks are provided with liquidity, including cash both in rubles and in foreign currency… Uninterrupted operation of plastic cards within Russia is ensured… In all banks, including those subject to restrictions, all customer funds in foreign currency are stored and can be issued in foreign currency accounts,” Siluanov said at a government meeting on February 25.

As Vyacheslav Putilovsky, junior director for ratings of credit institutions at Expert RA, noted in a conversation with RT, after 2014 Russia carried out quite serious work to strengthen the banking sector and ensure its independence.

At the same time, an analogue of the SWIFT international payment system has already been developed in the country.

We are talking about the Financial Message Transfer System (SPFS).

The platform guarantees the uninterrupted transmission of payment orders within Russia and abroad.

According to Putilovsky, the presence of such an instrument may make it easier for the financial sector to endure Russia's disconnection from SWIFT, which is now being discussed in the West.

“Sanctions are constantly updated, so it is difficult to predict how deep they will go.

But we can definitely say that the government will provide all possible support to banks.

Organizations adapt to hardship, and individuals should not experience major long-term hardship.

In case of disconnection from SWIFT, there are similar settlement systems.

Problems, of course, may arise, but they will be temporary and completely solvable, ”concluded Putilovsky.