De-dollarizing the Russian economy is essential, says PM
The United States, the EU and other Western nations are using their currencies as a blackmail tool against Russia, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a video conference of the council of CIS countries on Friday.
“The dollar and the euro are increasingly used as instruments of political pressure and economic blackmail,”, stated the official.
According to Mishustin, in the face of sanctions, Russia should strengthen interaction with its partners and make more active use of multilateral mechanisms. In particular, agreements should be reached on a free trade zone, cooperation in transport and logistics, as well as the use of national currencies in mutual agreements between CIS countries.
The prime minister stressed that Russia “the focus remains on de-dollarization”, which means eliminating the use of the US currency in the agreements.
In the past two months, Russia has faced an unprecedented number of economic restrictions, ranging from freezing the country’s foreign exchange reserves to banning transactions with its financial institutions. As a result, many Western companies decided to stop doing business in the country. Russia may also face a technical default on its debt obligations, as the US has threatened to block payments on its dollar-denominated bonds.
However, countermeasures from Russia, such as capital controls, a sharp increase in the key rate, and a new ruble-based gas payment mechanism, among others, helped stabilize the economy and even allowed the ruble to rise to four years. high against the dollar on Friday.