On September 8, speaking at a press conference for Indian media ahead of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the opinion that Russia is seeking to remove the USD from international payment activities, according to TASS.
Not because we are aiming for dedollarization or want to eliminate the USD. No. On the contrary, we are open to all acceptable payment methods," Peskov said.
According to the Kremlin spokesman, some countries are using national currencies as a tool for political pressure, while imposing sanctions based on these currencies.
Mr. Peskov said that the above moves have narrowed Russia's ability to use the currency of its partners when conducting transactions. Therefore, Russia has switched to using its domestic currency to maintain payment operations.
If they don't allow us to use their money, we will use our own money," he emphasized.
Mr. Peskov said that the use of the domestic currency in payment benefits all parties. According to him, this way helps Russia and its partners continue to trade when some countries do not allow the use of their currency.
Payment in domestic currency is also an issue promoted by Russia within the BRICS framework. Moscow supports increasing the use of the national currency in transactions between members.
