President Vladimir Putin of Russia has announced Wednesday that BRICS countries can now “freely connect” to Systems for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) as an alternative to SWIFT which is US dominated. The announcement comes as Western countries cut off major Russian banks from their financial infrastructure which has hampered Russian access to lenders and creditors.

Given the nature of US dominance, BRICS countries have sort to carve out some clout out of the situation by which the US has tried to dissuade them not to do business with Russia. Brazil, India, China and South Africa can now be connected to SPFS to continue doing business with Russia, especially as oil is being offered at discounts to them and in defiance of the US and western Europe.

Making the announcement, Putin explained that SPFS has similar functionality to SWIFT and allows transmission of messages between financial institutions in the same format.

tThe SPFS is a product of the Bank of Russia as an alternative to the Belgium-based system and was first set up in 2014, after Moscow was hit with Western sanctions over Crimea which Russia took control of and the rebellion in the east of Ukraine.