HARBIN, May 17. /TASS/. By introducing financial restrictions against Russia the US authorities are only hurting themselves, essentially "sawing off the branch they are sitting on," Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters.

"As the authorities in the United States undermine trust in the dollar for political reasons, they weaken their main and most important instrument of their power - the dollar itself. They cause irreparable damage to themselves. To put it trivially, with our well-known sayings, they are simply sawing the branch they are sitting on. This is terrible stupidity, but they can’t stop," Putin said, commenting on the restrictions imposed by the United States in settlements with Russia.

Nevertheless, the head of state was able to look on the bright side.

"This situation, when one country dictates its will to the rest of the world, including in the political sphere, using financial and economic instruments, is unacceptable. And all countries of the world (are reacting to the situation - TASS). We can just take a look at the volume of reserves in dollars - it is decreasing. The whole world is reacting. I think this process is inevitable," Putin said.

He also called the transition to settlements in national currencies and the creation of other instruments for settlements with other countries the right process.

"This process is ongoing, it can no longer be stopped," the Russian leader stressed.