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Russia To Create Own Payment System
Published on
Thursday, 27 March 2014
10:40 pm
//
world news
Russian
President Vladimir Putin says his country should create its own national
payment settlement system to reduce its reliance on West amid heightened
tensions over Crimea.
Putin told
lawmakers in televised remarks on Thursday that such systems worked in
countries like Japan and China.
"Initially,
they started out solely as national systems limited to their own markets, their
own territory, their own population, but they are becoming more popular right
now," the Russian President said, adding, "Why should we not do it?
We should definitely do it and we will do it."
Putin’s remarks
came after two American financial companies Visa and MasterCard stopped
providing services for payment transactions for clients at Bank Rossiya,
following Washington’s sanctions imposed in response to Crimea rejoining
Russia.
Crimea declared
independence from Ukraine on March 17 and formally applied to become part of
Russia following a referendum a day earlier, in which 96.8 percent of Crimean
residents voted in favor of the secession. The voter turnout in the referendum
stood at 83.1 percent.
The move sparked
angry reactions from the United States and the European Union, both imposing
punitive measures against a number of Russian officials and authorities in
Crimea.
Ukrainian
lawmakers have announced that they will never recognize the reunification of
Crimea with Russia, vowing to fight for the liberation of the region as long as
it takes.
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