06.09 Syria Intervention Bad for Global Economy � VTB Bank Head

MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) � A foreign military operation in Syria could lead to a rise in oil prices, which would on the whole have a negative effect on global economic growth, the head of one of Russia�s biggest banks, VTB, said Friday.

�Oil prices may rocket, which could bring Russia some short-term profit, but it would certainly be bad from the perspective of global growth,� VTB head Andrei Kostin told journalists.

Russia's economy is highly dependent on oil prices.

Kostin said that certain countries, including the United States, had earlier been able to positively develop at the expense of war, but he added that wars had mostly brought ruin and economic destabilization to the global economy.

�We would get in Syria the same that we have in Egypt or Libya � another country with political instability that can�t be settled,� Kostin said.

The unrest in Syria began in March 2011 and later escalated into a civil war. More than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far, according to United Nations estimates.