The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, speaking today in the State Duma, said that the country has set a course to reduce its foreign currency reserves, which are kept in dollars.

“We are drastically reducing our foreign exchange reserves, which are held in dollars,” Lavrov said.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Russia in every way encourages the transition to settlements with partners in national currencies.

“And this is beginning to cause disturbing discussions in the West among political scientists and economists,” the diplomat said.

Lavrov noted that “the U. S. is actively helping Russia reduce its ‘dependence on the dollar,’ doing everything possible recently to undermine confidence in its currency.

“We are seeking to reduce dependence on the dollar, and the Americans are actively helping us in this because they are doing almost everything possible to undermine confidence in this currency and make it risky in general for international settlements, not only for Russia, any other country in the world,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

Lavrov referred to U. S. demands that India, Egypt and Turkey stop cooperating with Russia in the military-technical sphere.

Last June, the Russian Ministry of Finance announced the beginning of changing the structure of the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

The changes are aimed at reducing the share of the dollar to zero, the British pound to five percent, and the Japanese yen to five percent.

It is noted that the share of the euro – will increase to 40 percent, yuan – up to 30 percent.

It is noted that, in addition, the structure of the fund will include a 20% share of gold.

At the same time, the head of the Foreign Ministry stressed that the final use of dollars would be decided by the government.