Russia must take measures to reduce its dependence on the American currency, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. According to him, steps need to be taken due to new possible US sanctions.
“We need to isolate ourselves from the US financial and economic system in order to get rid of dependence on this toxic source of constant hostility … We need to reduce the role of the dollar in any transactions,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg. What exactly measures Russia should take to weaken its dependence on the dollar, Sergei Ryabkov did not specify. According to him, the Russian Foreign Ministry is not responsible for the economic policy of the state.
According to the diplomat, now the tension in the US-Russian relations is stronger than even during the Soviet era.
“Nothing like this happened, not only in terms of lack of trust, but also in terms of mutual dislike … Emotions are so intense that we will not see any improvement over a long, long time,” he added. Mr. Ryabkov recalled that over the past few years, the United States has imposed about 90 rounds of sanctions against Russia. They affected state-owned banks and corporations, the oil and gas sector, senior officials and large entrepreneurs.
New US President Joe Biden has already named Russia one of the main threats to the state’s national security. The main disagreements between Washington and Moscow relate to the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the situation with the alleged poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and a large-scale hacker attack on the US federal ministries. On February 23, Biden’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US would respond to Russia’s unfriendly moves in the next few weeks.
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