One factor that has boosted the move away from the dollar in recent weeks is the US president Joe Biden’s decision to introduce currency sanctions against Russia. India was among the countries that abstained from voting on the UN resolution condemning Russian for its special military operation in Ukraine. It was also one of the first Asian countries to feel the effect of the unprecedented economic sanctions launched by the US and its western allies against Russia. According to leading Indian media sources, the exclusion of a number of leading Russian banks from the SWIFT system led to a breakdown of payments under trading agreements between India and Russia. India is therefore working on developing ways of continuing to work with Russia under the current sanctions regime, specifically abandoning the US dollar and instead using rubles and rupees for payments between the two countries. Once in effect, this transition would have the additional advantage of allowing Delhi to purchase Russian crude oil and petroleum products at a discount. India is the world’s third largest importer of oil, and under the highly attractive terms proposed by Moscow it would be able to import up to 15 million barrels of Russian crude oil.

In addition to investing in dollars and US securities many are also diversifying their reserve funds by acquiring a range of commodities including gold bullion and raw materials. However “throughout the global economy and trading system, confidence in the US dollar’s status as the main reserve currency has suffered a serious blow,” as Russian president Vladimir Putin expressed it in a meeting on providing social and economic support to Russia’s regions on March 16. He added that the “illegitimate freezing of part of the Bank of Russia’s currency reserves has demonstrated that so-called first-class assets are no longer reliable.” “In effect the US and EU have defaulted on their obligations to Russia. Now everyone knows that financial reserves can simply be stolen, and it is my firm conviction that many countries, noting what has happened, will soon be reviewing their reserves, moving from securities and digital currency to raw materials, land, manufactured goods, gold and other physical assets,” he emphasized.

Biden’s Actions Behind Collapsing Dollar | The Liberty Beacon