HARBIN, May 17. /TASS/. With its unfriendly actions towards Russia in terms of limiting payments the US undermines confidence in the dollar and its role as the world reserve currency, President Vladimir Putin told reporters.

"This is really stupid and a huge mistake on the part of the American political elites (to limit payments from the Russian Federation - TASS), because they cause enormous damage to themselves, undermine confidence in the dollar and are gradually curtailing the status of the dollar as a world settlement and reserve currency," Putin said, commenting on the problem of payments between Russian and Chinese banks.

The Russian leader noted that solutions on how to make payments are possible and do exist. They are discussed at the level of participants in economic activities, but such decisions "one way or another must be supported at the state level."

Earlier Bloomberg reported that some Chinese banks are checking cross-border transactions with Russia and want to strengthen control over the financing of Russian clients after US threats to impose secondary sanctions. Russian companies complained about periodic blocking of payments for supplies from China.