Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is being forced to abandon payments in dollars since the U.S. is using its national currency as an instrument of sanctions, Russian media reported.
Russia is not seeking to get rid of the dollar, Putin said, but in many areas, it is moving away from the dollar to national currencies of other states.
According to Putin, some oil companies do not want to avoid paying in dollars.
However, if they are forced to do so, they too “will find a way of de-dollarization.” This would seriously damage the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency, Putin warned.
Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Finance also announced its plans to reduce the share of the dollar in the structure of the National Wealth Fund to zero.