The United States is making a big mistake when it uses the dollar as a sanction instrument, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with CNBC journalist Hadley Gamble after the Russian Energy Week forum’s plenary session. The text of the interview was posted on the Kremlin website on Thursday, Tass informs.
US making big mistake when using dollar as sanction instrument — Putin
STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: "I think that the United States is making a very big mistake when it uses the dollar as a sanction instrument," he said, adding that Washington is doing it to stop settlements in dollars for sanctioned products.
"We cannot receive client’s money for delivered products in dollars. Where does it lead? We are simply forced, we have no other choice, we simply have to use other currencies," he said.
"When other countries, which use the dollar as a reserve currency or as a settlement instrument, see what is going on, they feel worry that the dollar can be used this way against them," Putin noted. "And they begin to reduce their dollar holdings too and make less use of it as a settlement unit. As a result, even the US’ closest partners and allies bring down the dollar’s share in their reserves. This is a statistical fact."
The dollar "is undermining its positions as a global reserve currency and the volume of settlements in dollars is shrinking, as are the volumes of countries’ reserves in it," Putin stressed.
"But we are not interested in stopping to use dollars in settlements," he said, adding that he means "settlements for energy resources, first of all, for oil."
"But if the American authorities continue the policy I mentioned earlier, we will have to do nothing, the United States will ruin trust to the dollar itself," he said.
