Economics
Putin’s Pledge to Ditch the Dollar Is Slowly Becoming a Reality
- Euro closes in on dollar as top currency for exports to EU
- India agreed to pay Russia in rubles for defense sales
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Russia is acting on a pledge by President Vladimir Putin to shrink the role of dollar in international trade as tensions sour between Washington and Moscow.
The shift is part of a strategy to “de-dollarize” the Russian economy and lower its vulnerability to the ongoing threat of U.S. sanctions. But while the central bank was able to quickly dump half of its dollar holdings last year, progress in trade has been slow due to ingrained use of the greenback for many transactions.