PARIS, January 16. /TASS/. The abandonment of settlements in dollars between states is gaining momentum, but it would be greatly accelerated if countries outside the Western bloc agree on a universal currency.

Jacques Sapir, Director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, expressed this opinion in an interview with TASS.

Although there has been talk about de-dollarization for more than 10 years, "in fact, this issue became the real focus of debates after the decision to freeze the assets of the Central Bank of Russia" in foreign banks due to the start of the special operation in Ukraine and "unilateral application of US law in relation to dollar transactions," he noted.

The transition to settlements in national currencies "is already going on between Russia and India, Russia and China, China and Saudi Arabia, and so on," but this practice is not spreading to other countries quickly enough, Sapir added.

"To make this process much faster, these countries should agree on a single international currency for transactions and investments. There are currently interactions and discussions on this issue, especially within BRICS. However, until this single currency for international transactions is created, progress on de-dollarization will remain limited," he concluded.

After the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, Western countries imposed sanctions against the Bank of Russia. In addition to freezing the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Federation, all transactions related to the management of reserves and assets of the Bank of Russia, as well as transactions with any legal entity, organization or body acting on their behalf or on behalf of the Bank of Russia were banned.

Earlier, the head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, said that as a result of Western sanctions, about $300 billion of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves were frozen.