RT reported June 10 that in an interview with Reuters, “Andrei Kostin, the CEO of state-controlled VTB, Russia’s second largest bank, said the crisis was ushering in sweeping changes to the world economy, undermining globalization just as China was taking on the mantle of a top global economic power.”
Reuters asked if he believed there were a “new Cold War” with Russia, to which Kostin replied: “We have already entered into a hot war. It is not cold when there are so many Western weapons and a lot of Western services and military advisers involved. The situation is worse than in the Cold War, it is very difficult and alarming.”
On China, Kostin said: “I think that the time has come when China will gradually remove currency restrictions. China understands that they will not become world economic power Number 1 if they keep their yuan as a non-convertible currency,” adding that it was dangerous for China to keep reserves invested in U.S. sovereign bonds.
