According to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Russia and China have phased out almost all use of Western currencies, with almost all payments between the countries now carried out in rubles and yuan.

The Prime Minister made the statement while meeting on Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang, during his two-day trip to Beijing for a series of meetings between Russian and Chinese leaders.

Mishustin said, “We continue to increase the share of national currencies in mutual settlements. If in 2020 this figure was about 20%, then this year we have actually completely gotten rid of the currencies of third countries in mutual settlements.”

He also pointed out that the two nations are strengthening their business relations, noting that in May, a joint business forum in Shanghai drew more than 1,500 entrepreneurs from both nations.

He went on, “We are creating comfortable conditions for the work of commercial firms on the Russian and Chinese markets. We have an extensive joint agenda.”

In response, Li Qiang pointed out that the two nations are continuing to strengthen their cooperation, and how important that is when viewed against the background of “global turbulence” in the world today.

Russia began switching to using alternative currencies instead of the more traditional western currencies after sanctions were imposed on Moscow which in essence cut the country off from Western financial systems. As a result, other countries which wanted to do business with Russia had to work with the Kremlin to come up with alternative means of settling cross border trade obligations which did not require Western currencies or access to Western financial systems.

As that was occurring, still other nations, fearful their national economies could be targeted by the West over political disagreements, began also exploring alternative means of settlements, adding to the rush away from the euro and the dollar.