MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/. Russia will take further steps to reduce the monopoly of the US dollar as the main reserve currency and means of payment in international trade, Dmitry Birichevsky, head of the Department of Economic Cooperation at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, published on Wednesday.
"We will take further steps aimed at reducing the monopoly of the discredited US dollar as the main reserve currency and means of payment in international trade," Birichevsky told the newspaper.
He noted that Russia has enough opportunities to ensure sustainable and dynamic development of the national economy, independent of external pressure.
According to the diplomat, first of all, this concerns unlocking the potential of domestic production, including in high-tech industries. He also announced that Russia will continue to diversify foreign economic relations, strengthen cooperation with its closest partners in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the CIS and increase interaction with the states of Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.
"Such a policy is already yielding positive results. In particular, we use national currency more and more often in our foreign trade operations with these countries, international payment systems alternative to SWIFT are being used more often as well," the diplomat said.
Birichevsky also noted that Russia is open to continuing a constructive dialogue with business partners from unfriendly countries and is not going to discriminate against companies based on nationality.
"However, it should be taken into account that Western governments, through sanctions, have created such "favorable" conditions for doing business with Russia for their economic operators that now they will be forced to adapt to us. By the way, they are already doing this. Transfer of payments for our energy resources into rubles serves as an example of this," he said.
According to Birichevsky, the United States and its allies are imposing a tough confrontation on Russia and thus are trying to restore and consolidate a very dubious dominance in the world to the detriment of the national interests of other members of the international community. Russia will not build economic relations in such a coordinate system, he added.