Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has stated that the trend of moving away from the US dollar as the medium of exchange in global trade is irreversible and is sure to accelerate. Speaking at a press conference, Lavrov emphasised the importance of neutralising security threats, including those originating from the US, in cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. Lavrov added that Russia has taken into account Western countries’ attempts to incite conflicts near its borders in formulating military, political and diplomatic plans.
Lavrov stated that the US has already “sawed off the tree limb that it was perched on, managing global financial flows and the world economy as a whole by leveraging the dollar’s dominant role”. He also noted that trade flows across the CIS are growing, despite threats from the US and the EU not to cooperate with Russia and Belarus under pain of so-called secondary sanctions and other penalties. Lavrov concluded that serious countries and sober-minded politicians are drawing relevant conclusions and these conclusions are definitely in favour of terminating dependence on the West.
Russian Finance Minister, Anton Siluanov, has also said that Russia is moving away from using the US dollar when paying for exports and reducing settlements in USD with contractors. Siluanov said that they are now focusing on settlements in national currencies, rubles, and the currencies of friendly countries. Settlements in dollars are going down gradually, especially for supplies of Russian export goods, settlements between contractors, to make it easier and more comfortable for foreign trade partners to pay.
The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are pushing to expand their global influence to counter Western countries’ “destructive actions.” The BRICS countries are also reportedly working to create a new form of currency. Economist Nouriel Roubini expects a shift to a bipolar global reserve currency with the Chinese yuan as an alternative to the US dollar.
It remains to be seen whether the US dollar will lose its status as the world’s reserve currency. However, the trend of moving away from the US dollar is gaining momentum, with Russia and other countries seeking to reduce their dependence on the West. The path of sanctions is the path to nowhere, and serious countries and sober-minded politicians are drawing relevant conclusions in favour of terminating dependence on the West.
