The deep political crisis in relations that emerged between Russia and the West after February 2022 has led to large-scale changes in the application of economic sanctions. There was a significant increase in the speed, concentration and scope at which sanctions could be applied to one country. This “Sanctions tsunami” against Russia is a sign of a bifurcation point. Its passage either will launch a reformatting of the world’s balance of power, or alternately, will preserve American hegemony in the global economy and in finance. Russia amid the current conditions has no choice but to radically restructure the mechanisms of its financial and trade relations with foreign countries. Strictly speaking, the ability of Russia and its partners to achieve such a result will reveal the cracks that exist in the current system of American leadership. A negative outcome from such a bifurcation point will be the marginalisation of Russia in world finance and trade to the level of the DPRK or Iran, while other large non-Western players, even Russia's closest allies, maintain close integration into the US-centric system. A positive outcome would be the restructuring of global finance, which would give way to the formation of an alternative hub like China’s or several such hubs. Such a scenario would give Moscow a wider field for manoeuvre and boost the diversify of its foreign economic relations.