MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. The United States is making a big mistake when it uses the dollar as a sanction instrument, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with CNBC journalist Hadley Gamble after the Russian Energy Week forum’s plenary session. The text of the interview was posted on the Kremlin website on Thursday.

"I think that the United States is making a very big mistake when it uses the dollar as a sanction instrument," he said, adding that Washington is doing it to stop settlements in dollars for sanctioned products.

"We cannot receive client’s money for delivered products in dollars. Where does it lead? We are simply forced, we have no other choice, we simply have to use other currencies," he said.

"When other countries, which use the dollar as a reserve currency or as a settlement instrument, see what is going on, they feel worry that the dollar can be used this way against them," Putin noted. "And they begin to reduce their dollar holdings too and make less use of it as a settlement unit. As a result, even the US’ closest partners and allies bring down the dollar’s share in their reserves. This is a statistical fact."

According to the Russian leader, Moscow is reducing the dollar’s share in its reserve and settlement. "It is not always possible but we are trying to use national currencies. So, it can be said that the United States is quarreling with its bread and butter because it is undermining the dollar’s absolute competitive edge as a universal reserve currency and is damaging its strategic economic interests for the sake of time-serving political reasons," he said.

The dollar "is undermining its positions as a global reserve currency and the volume of settlements in dollars is shrinking, as are the volumes of countries’ reserves in it," Putin stressed.

"But we are not interested in stopping to use dollars in settlements," he said, adding that he means "settlements for energy resources, first of all, for oil."

"But if the American authorities continue the policy I mentioned earlier, we will have to do nothing, the United States will ruin trust to the dollar itself," he said.

US debt

Moscow is keeping a close eye on the growth of the United States’ public debt and will take necessary measures to ensure its long-term interests in the financial sphere, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with CNBC journalist Hadley Gamble after the Russian Energy Week forum’s plenary. The text of the interview was posted on the Kremlin website on Thursday.

"The United States’ public debt is growing. The Congress has once again decided to raise the debt ceiling. What does it mean? Issue. What is issue? It is growing inflation. And, maybe, for the first time ever, inflation in the United States is growing so rapidly as never before. These are economic causes that this or that way undermine trust to the currency," he said.

According to the Russian leader, Moscow is keeping a close eye on the situation. "We are analyzing and making necessary steps to ensure our long-term interests," he added.

In his words, everyone is wondering what the US authorities are going to do with their colossal debt. "These are fundamental questions. It is none of our business. It is linked with the Federal Reserve System’s policy, it is linked with the [US] administration policy," he added.

"The United States is the world’s biggest economy, a high-technology economy and the entire global economy depends on the situation in the US economy," he noted. "We are objectively interested in no turbulences here, but it doesn’t depend on us.".