The CIS countries should protect themselves from external influence, President Vladimir Putin has urged
BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN – OCTOBER 13: Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov (R) greets Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) during the CIS Summit in Bishkek. © Nazir Aliyev Tayfur/Anadolu via Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the member nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to rely more on national currencies in trade in order to make themselves less vulnerable to outside influence.
Putin was speaking on Friday at a summit of CIS leaders that is underway in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.
“The creation of a sustainable financial infrastructure that is independent of external influence, as well as the wider use of national currencies in mutual settlements, are important tools for a further increase in trade operations and investment flows,” the Russian president told the summit.
Russia will contribute to the efforts to broaden the use of national currencies in trade “in every possible way,” by working with financial and economic institutions and central banks in member countries, he added.
The drive to ditch the US dollar in international trade and to switch to national currencies instead has been gaining momentum among developing nations since the West unleashed its unprecedented sanctions campaign against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. The measures effectively cut the country off from the dollar- and euro-denominated Western financial system.
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The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization that includes Russia and many of its fellow former Soviet republics. They include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
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