A warning from the "tsar" of Russian banks: new sanctions could hit Italy hard. Italian businesses could face losses of 10 billion euros

But what about Russia?
We are prepared. You should not underestimate Russians. Maybe they are not concentrated when times are good, enjoying the beauty of life…But when there are constraints, Russians are united. That's one of the main things to bear in mind. With the banking system, the Government, with Russia entrepreneurs and State-owned companies we are elaborating new mechanisms for long-term investments through the refinancing facilities of the Central Bank. We are working closely with banks outside Europe, and enjoy business facilities from them. So we have much to do, and if the worst scenario is in case, we are prepared. Our task is to finance development of our economy, and the sources for this financing are here with us.

And yet Vnesheconombank itself has had difficulties...
Of course we are experiencing problems: we were about to refinance our syndicated loan (2,45 billion dollars, ndr), which we had to pay in mid April as we could not reach an agreement with the syndication of banks. But we found other sources to pay back this loan: it's another example that we can find facilities servicing our indebtedness and for the financing needs of our corporates.

Could Asian investors compensate for Europeans and Americans?
In terms of the US we don't need any compensation, because American investors are not in Russia as a big investor. It's a matter of business interest: if somebody is not in Russia, others will take this space. And of course we have a lot of businesses with China or Korea. We set up a special private equity fund with China Investment Corporation, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and CIC have 2 billion dollars to be invested primarily in Far Eastern parts of Russia. We see China looking with great interest at Russian investment opportunities: Yamal, Lng, gas pipelines, forestry, raw materials. Russia did a lot through allocating a certain, substantial amount of money from our Wealth Fund to be invested jointly with RDIF in infrastructural projects, just to make foreign investors gain appropriate returns.

Which are the most important projects for Veb at the moment?
Primarily these are infrastructure projects, roads, bridges. One of the biggest where we are involved is the bridge (which will link) Crimea with the continental territory. Road connections between Moscow and S.Petersburg, airports, big industrial projects. Which we implement jointly with big foreign companies in Japan, in Europe, supported by facilities extended to us by national and international financial organisations. They are committed, not in a position to breach their obligations.

Capital flight is one of the biggest brakes for the Russian economy, depriving it of investments. How would you solve this problem?

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