Kostin spoke about the plan for “time H” when blocking settlements in dollars

The Bank of RUSSIA and market participants have a plan in case of increased US sanctions against state-owned banks, Andrey Kostin told RBC. The state will support them

Banks and the Central Bank have a plan in case US sanctions are extended to the financial instruments of Russian credit institutions, VTB HEAD Andrey Kostin said in an interview with RBC.

“We [banks] adopted a plan together with the Central Bank back in 2018. it provides for our joint actions in the event of the “H” time: what to do with the currency and so on. The state will help such banks, will support, first of all, in terms of working with depositors. The entire banking community will help, such scenarios have all been worked out. We are gradually updating them, taking into account the development of the situation. Undoubtedly, the financial and banking sector will fulfill its obligations. We will survive and somehow digest, ”said Kostin.

The head of VTB - RBC: "It is impossible for us to turn into North Korea" Business

Blocking sanctions against banks would deprive them of the opportunity to function in their current form and would not allow them to make payments in foreign currencies, the head of VTB said.

In 2018, US senators prepared a bill according to which Americans cannot conduct transactions with Russian government debt and state-owned banks. It was about transactions with a new sovereign debt of Russia with an urgency of more than 14 days. At the same time, the authors understood sovereign debt not only as bonds of the Federal Treasury, the Bank of Russia, or the National Welfare Fund, but also “any other financial instrument” for a period of more than 14 days, which is issued by Vnesheconombank, Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Bank of Moscow, Rosselkhozbank, or Promsvyazbank ( they are all directly or indirectly controlled by the state). The bill was never passed at the time.