The head of VTB told Putin about the immunity of Russian banks due to sanctions

Sanctions have helped RUSSIA build immunity , VTB chief Andrey Kostin said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. The transcript of the conversation was published on the Kremlin website.

“As for the sanctions that were applied against us, you know, maybe thanks to them we developed a certain immunity and increased our sovereignty in this matter,” he said.

Kostin called Western sanctions "double-edged." According to him, they "destroyed the world trading system and led to an increase in inflation." “You look at what is happening now in the United States: in fact, the biggest financial banking crisis since 2008, and it is already spreading to Europe,” he said.

In March, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which served mainly technology startups and investors, went bankrupt in the United States . His bankruptcy was the largest in the US since the global crisis of 2008. Then two more American banks, Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank, closed.

US President Joe Biden and the country's Treasury assured that the banking system will withstand the blow and the situation is different from the situation in 2008. At the same time, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) did not rule out that a recession could occur in the US by the end of this year.

The HEAD of VTB stressed that in Russia "the banking sector feels secure." “I don't think there will be any problems. Although, of course, we suffered certain losses last year due to the fact that our property was simply taken away from us, ”said Kostin.

VTB came under blocking US sanctions on February 24 last year, the day Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine . In 2022, the bank received a loss under RAS (Russian Accounting Standards) for 756.8 billion rubles. against a profit of 242.6 billion rubles. in 2021. The total loss under IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) last year amounted to 612.6 billion rubles. These figures have become a record in the history of the bank. Kostin called the sanctions "a political decision", "very wrong" for the global financial system, including "for the DOLLAR and its role."

Deputy Chairman of the Board of VTB Dmitry Pyanov spoke about plans in 2024 to carry out a special reorganization, as a result of which the bank will be able to write off assets and liabilities blocked due to sanctions.