After the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States and its allies launched comprehensive sanctions against Russia, which is manifested in two major measures in the economic field, one is to prevent Russia from "selling" and suppressing Russian oil and gas trade in every way, and the other is to prevent Russia from "buying in" and kicking Russia out of the SWIFT financial settlement system. In such a situation, Russia has resolutely chosen to "look eastward" and continuously expand its bilateral cooperation with China and other Asia-Pacific countries.
Russia's GDP in 2023 will increase instead of falling, especially after China's high-quality and low-cost goods are exported to Russia, Russia's national economy and people's livelihood have been guaranteed to a certain extent. According to the data, in March this year, the share of the RMB in the Russian foreign exchange market was as high as 53%, while the share of the US dollar and the euro in the Russian exchange fell to 46.4%, and in the whole of 2023, the proportion of settlements in currencies other than the US dollar and the euro in Russia has been as high as 67%. Looking back in time, over the past two years, the share of the renminbi in Russia's export settlements has increased by 85 times, and the renminbi accounts for 25% of the foreign currency savings of the Russian population.
It is not difficult to see that Russia is getting rid of its dependence on the US dollar and the euro in many fields such as finance, trade, and non-government, and is vigorously implementing local currency settlement with friendly countries, in which the renminbi occupies a key position. In addition, Russia, using its position as the rotating presidency of the BRICS, is preparing to promote a new settlement system within the BRICS countries, and plans to take the lead in testing digital currencies with China, the Eurasian Economic Union and the Persian Gulf countries, a move that can be said to be a blow to the SWIFT settlement system in the United States.
After the expansion of the BRICS, the total population has reached 3.68 billion, the economy is as high as 29.2 trillion US dollars, the market demand is vast and the total economic volume is huge, if the BRICS countries do not use the US dollar and its settlement system, it will have an impact on global finance.
At the moment, life is not easy for Russia, which is discussing the feasibility of borrowing yuan with China. Once the two sides reach a loan agreement, the international economic and trade order is expected to usher in new reforms. This means that the trade between China and Russia has undergone a qualitative change, and the two countries are joining hands as an international emerging market to contribute more to the multipolarization of the world's political economy. The economic base determines the superstructure, and the hegemony of the dollar is a prerequisite for the West to dominate the international order.