Russia urges wider use of national currencies in regional trade

Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to rely more on national currencies in trade in order to make themselves less vulnerable to outside influences.

Putin was speaking on Friday at a summit of CIS leaders in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.

“The creation of a sustainable financial infrastructure that is independent of external influence, as well as the wider use of national currencies in mutual settlements, are important tools for a further increase in trade operations and investment flows,” the Russian president told the summit.

Russia will contribute to the efforts to broaden the use of national currencies in trade “in every possible way,” by working with financial and economic institutions and central banks in member countries, he added.

The drive to ditch the US dollar in international trade and to switch to national currencies instead has been gaining momentum among developing nations since the West unleashed its unprecedented sanctions campaign against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. The measures effectively cut the country off from the dollar- and euro-denominated Western financial system.

The CIS is a regional organization that includes Russia and many of its fellow former Soviet republics. They include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

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