MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. Use of the dollar as a political weapon is a mistake because such actions undermine confidence in the US currency, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday at the Russian Energy Week Forum.
"We see attempts of using the dollar as the political error. I believe this is one more major mistake, because the dollar enjoyed a lot of confidence globally. This was actually the only universal global currency. The United States started using dollar settlements as a tool in the political struggle for some purpose, imposing restrictions on dollar use and cutting the branch they are sitting on but they will fall with a crash soon," Putin said.
Russia has never set a task of abandoning the dollar as the payment instrument but it has to think of securing itself and diversifying settlements now, the President said. A total of 72% of settlements among member-states of the Eurasian Economic Union are made in rubles; many countries start thinking and make transition to payments in national currencies, Putin noted. "I believe the US ruling establishment should definitely come to rethinking such situation," he added.
According to data of international organizations, gold and currency reserves of countries are declining in terms of the dollar value, Putin said. "The dollar declines as a reserve currency in many countries of the world, including US allies. Settlements in dollars also go down in global trade. They were 50% and more; now they amount to 45%. Iran is limited in dollar payments; some restrictions are introduced for Russia, for other countries. This undermines confidence in the dollar," the head of state said.
Use of political instruments in the economy, particularly in the global energy, is an extremely dangerous and harmful thing in general terms, Putin added.