VLADIVOSTOK, September 7. /TASS/. The dollar’s influence on the Russian economy will never be the same, with the role of the ruble and a number of other currencies rising, Chief Executive Officer of Sberbank Herman Gref told an online press conference at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Wednesday.

"Russia’s dependence on the largest trade partners, primarily on China, will be increasing. However, I would call it ‘cooperational development’. Amid this background the role of the dollar and the euro will be replaced by that of the yuan, and I do not expect Russia to return to the previous situation when the dollar influenced the domestic economy. The importance of its own currency is extremely likely to be on the rise, objectively. But to some extent, the dollar and the euro will be replaced by some major currencies, the yuan in the first place," he explained.

Russia’s economy has embarked on a course of de-dollarization and rolling back dependence on so-called ‘toxic’ currencies, with banks being the most active players of this process. Russian lending institutions are cutting transactions in currencies of hostile countries and tightening conditions on them. Moreover, Sberbank and VTB said on Tuesday they would start loaning to companies in yuan.

Organized by the Roscongress Foundation, the Seventh Eastern Economic Forum is running from September 5 to September 8 in Vladivostok. TASS is the event’s general information partner and its official photohost agency. This year, the theme of the forum is: "On the Path to a Multipolar World.".