Russia urgently needs to take action to reduce the economy’s dependence on the dollar to a minimum, as the US administration, led by Joe Biden, signals plans to increase sanctions pressure on Moscow. This is reported by Bloomberg with reference to the words of Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
“We need to distance ourselves from the US financial and economic system and get rid of dependence on this poisonous source of constant hostile actions … We need to reduce the role of the dollar in any operations,” Ryabkov said. He pointed out that in recent years, the United States has conducted more than 90 rounds of anti-Russian sanctions, within which Russian banks, state corporations, oil and gas companies, senior officials and businessmen fell under the restrictions.
At the same time, the diplomat recalled that the Russian Foreign Ministry is not responsible for the country’s economic policy. Ryabkov did not specify what specific steps Moscow could take to reduce its dollar dependence.
As the agency notes, in the past few years Russia has been consistently reducing its dependence on “American assets”. So, in January 2021, gold for the first time bypassed the dollar as part of the country’s international reserves. However, Bloomberg writes that the American currency is still one of the main means of payment for the country in international settlements. In addition, more than a quarter of the Russian government debt is in the hands of foreign investors.