Moscow, Russia’s finance minister has accused foreign countries of wanting to force Russia into an “artificial default” through sanctions.

In a statement, finance minister Anton Siluanov said: “The freezing of foreign currency accounts of the Bank of Russia and of the Russian government can be regarded as the desire of a number of foreign countries to organise an artificial default that has no real economic grounds.”

Several Russian banks have been banned from the Swift international payment system among other sanctions in response to the invasion of Ukraine, BBC news reported.

Source: Oman News Agency