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National currency payments between Russia, China helping soften blow of sanctions — expert

"Using the yuan or the ruble in payments is the most promising way to move away from the Western payment system," Director of the Center of Russian-Central Asian Studies with Shanghai Institutes for International Studies Qiang Xiaoyun noted

SHANGHAI, April 12. /TASS/. The use of national currencies in commercial payments between Russia and China helps mitigate the impact of Western sanctions, Qiang Xiaoyun, the Director of the Center of Russian-Central Asian Studies with Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told TASS on Wednesday.

"Using the yuan or the ruble in payments is the most promising way to move away from the Western payment system. Certainly, Chinese enterprises prefer the yuan because of its relatively stable exchange rate. As far as I know, Russian companies also choose the yuan. However, there is an issue related to the infrastructure of bilateral financial payments, which still needs to be worked out," Qiang said.

Going back to a bartering system is one "extreme" option to escape the effect of Western sanctions in trade, the expert noted. "This is an extreme measure; therefore, the yuan is the first option. It will be safer to use bilateral payment instruments in trade between Russia and China," she added.

Companies making very large transfers face some problems, the expert noted. Such complications are rarer for small and medium-sized enterprises, Qiang said.