Dumping the dollar: Russia gets ready to shift currency liquidity to the euro

Russian authorities are planning to shift the nation’s currency liquidity from the US dollar to the euro, the country’s Finance Ministry announced on Monday.

“Our number one goal is to turn Russia into a euro-oriented country, thus to replace the dollar with the euro,” said Dmitry Timofeev, head of the department of external restrictive measures control at the Russian Finance Ministry.

The official noted that Russia has every reason for the move, adding that the government is preparing a wide range of incentives for businesses to transition to the European single currency.

“Since we are a market economy, we cannot just order: stop using dollars,” Timofeev said, though he added that some state-owned corporations might be forced to shift.

“We need to develop the necessary tools in a single package to move the entire economy further away from the dollar, which, in fact, will allow us to avoid sanctions and make the world more democratic,” he added.

The announcement comes days after Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the National Wealth Fund would reduce its share of dollars to zero within the next month.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned that Russia may soon be tempted to move away from dollar-denominated crude contracts if the US administration continues to pile up targeted economic sanctions.

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