EAEU eyes removing US dollar from mutual settlements: Russian FM
Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's First CIS Department, Mikhail Yevdokimov, discusses steps to be taken inside the framework of EAEU and CIS.
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The heads of the member states of the EAEU
Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's First CIS Department, Mikhail Yevdokimov, told Sputnik that the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU or EEU) countries are attempting to remove the US dollar from mutual settlements.
"Significant attention is being paid to the wider use of national currencies in mutual settlements and the removal of the US dollar [from these settlements]," Yevdokimov said.
He added that even before the recent sanctions, the share of national currencies of the mutual settlements was above 70 percent.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Yevdokimov said that western countries seek to undermine the Commonwealth of Independent States' integration processes (CIS).
"The West is clearly seeking to undermine the integration processes in the Commonwealth space. In this situation, it is especially important to adapt the existing security mechanisms in the CIS to modern realities, linking work within the Commonwealth with the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] and the SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization]. Such activities are underway," Yevdokimov concluded.
It is worth mentioning that Russia has been trying to move away from relying on the dollar and attempting to sanction-proof the Russian economy since 2014.
US-led sanctions had pushed Russia to seek other alternatives to shield itself from the recent barrage of Western sanctions, EAEU consolidation can be considered one of those.
