Lavrov-BRICS Plan To Set Up Alternative Payment System

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaking at a presser at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg. Claims that the BRICS group is planning to set up an alternative payments system. Following its invasion of Ukraine, Russia was excluded from the SWIFT payments system, significantly hindering the ability of Russia to make payments to international partners.

• In July, the Foreign Ministry claimed that JPMorgan had stopped processing payments for the Russian Agricultural Bank, one of the few entities able to make payments as part of the now-abandoned Black Sea Grain Initiative.
• Lavrov also claims that the "United States seeks not only to punish Russia, but get rid of any dissent on [the] international arena."