Western Sanctions on Russia Demolish Global Trade System, Cause Inflation Surge, Says Russian Banker
Russia’s second-largest bank’s chairman says by imposing sanctions on Russia, the West has “demolished the global trade system and caused an inflation surge.” Pointing to the U.S. banking crisis as an example, he stressed: “This is virtually the largest financial and banking crisis since 2008, and it is already spreading to Europe.” ’Sanctions Against Russia Are a Double-Edged Sword’ Andrey Kostin, the chairman of state-controlled VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, talked about the U.S. banking crisis and the effects of Western sanctions on Russia in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Kostin told Putin: We are actively creating a new payments and settlements infrastructure involving rubles and currencies of friendly states. “We have the necessary expertise and infrastructure for this because we are present in major Asian countries, such as China and India, and we are present in the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] countries. We are therefore work