The Bell: banks and companies held exercises in case of anti-Russian sanctions

by time news

First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov held a series of meetings last week regarding the readiness of certain sectors of the economy for the possible imposition of sanctions against Russia. This was reported by The Bell, citing government sources.

The meetings were held following the results of stress tests or so-called exercises of Russian companies and systemically important banks. The exercises included a shutdown from SWIFT, a ban on the supply of Western software, servers, chips and other high-tech equipment, the newspaper writes.

“Everyone reports cheerfully, but in private conversations they say it’s a disaster,” one of the sources said. Another interlocutor said that with the introduction of restrictions on the conversion of the ruble, Russian banks “definitely have a problem with refinancing their external debt.” Belousov’s representative declined to comment.

On February 1, the Kommersant newspaper reported that Sberbank held a technology exercise during which it simulated a shutdown from foreign software and electronics, including Microsoft, Nvidia, VMware, SAP, Oracle and Intel. According to one of the interlocutors of the publication, the bank plans to purchase servers and data storage systems.

At that time, the Ministry of Digital Development said that any large business analyzes the stability of its IT infrastructure and assesses possible risks, and called it “standard practice”.

Earlier, Reuters reported that the US authorities warned chip manufacturers about a possible ban on the supply of microelectronics to Russia, allegedly in the event of an attack on Ukraine. According to the interlocutors of the publication, such statements caused concern in the Russian government. One of the sources said that the authorities are working on possible scenarios in case of limiting the export of microelectronics to Russia and disconnecting Russian companies from foreign software. At the same time, the Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry have repeatedly denied information that Moscow has plans to attack someone.

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