Georgy Zinoviev, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s First Asian Department recently told RIA Novosti News that the de-dollarization of Russia-China trade is nearly complete.

He noted that over the past two years, the share of the US dollar being used in mutual trade settlements between the two countries has shrunk substantially.

In the interview, Zinoviev said, “The share of national currencies in Russian-Chinese payments is growing at an extremely rapid pace. At the beginning of 2022 it was hovering around 25%, now it is exceeding 80%.”

He also pointed out that on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX), the volume of trading in the ruble-yuan pair had long-ago outpaced the volume in the dollar-ruble pair.

Zinoviev said that businesses in Russia and China were “rapidly moving away from the ‘toxic’ currencies of the West and moving toward the ruble and yuan, which they saw as a more “reliable and safe way of payment.”

The diplomat pointed out that the Kremlin and Beijing have developed all the necessary tools to “facilitate all necessary transactions as much as possible,” in spite of the political and economic instability internationally which has significantly impaired the ability of financial institutions to efficiently operate.

The changes were precipitated by Western sanctions, which forced Moscow to move away from transactions in the currencies of “unfriendly countries,” and develop alternative means of cross-border trade settlements. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, earlier in the year noted the country no longer trusts the US dollar, adding that it was “a completely unreliable instrument.”

His comments come ahead of the September 10th opening of the 8th Eastern Economic Forum, in Vladivostok, Russia. The forum will focus most of its discussions on trade, business, and investment.