Russia is moving away from the use of Western currencies, almost all payments for Russian energy raw materials are made in national currencies. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin in the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" on the TV channel "Russia 1".
"The trend has changed a lot with the smaller use of the dollar or the euro. Given the current problems in settlements with these currencies, in our calculations we switch only to national currencies: the yuan is in demand here, the ruble is in demand, "Novak said.
He stressed that foreign countries are showing great interest in the purchase of Russian energy resources, and for this it is necessary to create settlement mechanisms that can only be in national currencies.
"This vector will continue, our colleagues are already paying for gas in yuan in the People's Republic of China, partly for oil. And payments are made in rubles. We will continue to improve these settlements in national currencies," the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.
Recall that from April 1, 2022, on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation, Russia began to accept payment for energy supplies to unfriendly countries only in rubles. This happened after large-scale Western sanctions and partial blocking of reserves.
To complete the transaction, foreign buyers must open two special accounts with Gazprombank: foreign currency and ruble. First, the money must be transferred to a foreign currency account, then the bank on the Moscow Exchange will exchange these funds for rubles and credit them to the ruble account. Immediately after that, the foreign partner will be able to transfer rubles directly to the gas seller.
In August, Russia and Turkey agreed to switch to partial payment for gas in rubles. In September, the Russian side began supplying gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline for rubles and yuan.
Also on the russian.rt.com Countries are keen to use the Chinese yuan as a reserve currency instead of the dollar
Later, Vladimir Putin noted that already two-thirds of the trade turnover between the Russian Federation and the PRC is carried out in rubles and yuan. He stressed that national currencies are increasingly used in mutual trade.
"We are in favor of using Chinese yuan in settlements between the Russian Federation and the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. I am sure that these forms of payments will develop between Russian partners and their colleagues in third countries, as I said, in yuan," the Russian president said at an expanded meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in March 2023.
At the same time, the head of state, during his address to the Federal Assembly, noted that the share of the Russian ruble in international settlements doubled compared to December 2021 and amounted to one third.
"We will continue to work together with our partners to form a stable, secure system of international payments, independent of both the dollar and other Western reserve currencies, which, with such a policy of Western elites, Western rulers, will inevitably lose their universal character," he said.
Putin also said that Russia does not encroach on the dollar, and all countries of the world with gold and foreign exchange reserves thought about the reliability of the United States after the freezing of Russian reserves: "They themselves saw the branch on which they sit. I have already said this many times: by restricting the use of the dollar, based on short-term opportunistic considerations, they are harming themselves.
We add that Brazilian President Lula da Silva called on developing countries to abandon the dollar in international trade in favor of national currencies. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, commenting on this statement, noted that now the "flight" begins from the dollar: "Not very fast yet, but it will accelerate."