Russia’s state-funded news outlet RT retracted a report that falsely said 159 countries had adopted a “new BRICS payment system,” but not before the false claim spread across social media. RT misquoted a Russian official who said 159 “participants” — not 159 countries — had adopted Moscow’s SPFS system for bank transfers, which sanctions-hit Russia uses as an alternative to the global SWIFT system.
“A big step is coming! 159 countries to adopt the new BRICS payment system,” said an August 18 report after on X, formerly Twitter, written in simplified Chinese.
The BRICS bloc of emerging economies – consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – has offered alternatives to international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF.
Moscow has called on the BRICS countries to adopt a common payment system and make greater use of their members’ national currencies for trade, as they seek to wean themselves off the dollar.
Russia has been developing its domestic financial infrastructure, including the SPFS bank transfer system and the Mir card payment system, after the country was cut off from the global SWIFT payment system by the West due to Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The X-post features an RT video report on the introduction of the “BRICS payment system” by 159 countries.
The incorrect RT report circulated in similar posts on X, Facebook And TikTok.
RT apologies
A reverse search for RT’s video yielded a proposition from the broadcaster that withdraws the report (archived link).
“On August 17, 2024, Russia Today (RT) published news content on its official Weibo account — ‘159 countries will introduce the new BRICS payment system’. After verification, it turned out to be fake news,” RT posted on its official Weibo account on August 22.
“We apologize for publishing this incorrect information.”
The confusion appears to have arisen from an article by Russia’s state news agency Sputnik, which quoted an official as saying that 159 “participants” — not 159 countries — had adopted Moscow’s SPFS system.
“Russia has a Financial Messaging System that is an alternative to SWIFT. Some other countries have a similar infrastructure. We are discussing the interaction of such platforms,” the head of the Russian central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, told Sputnik ahead of his January 30 article — which reported that Moscow discussed SPFS integration with other BRICS countries (archived link).
She added that “159 foreign participants from 20 countries” had registered for SPFS.
Among the banks using the Russian system were banks from Armenia, Cuba and Kazakhstan, BAG news agency reported in March (archived link).
A spokesperson for BRICS Pay, a digital payments platform developed by the BRICS countries, told AFP they were “not aware of any plans for a rollout in 159 countries, as stated in the misleading social media posts”.
“The work on BRICS Pay is indeed progressing, but it will be a gradual and sequential development,” BRICS Pay said in a statement on September 6.
