Did Putin get cold feet in the face of Trump? Recently, while attending a public event, Putin said that Russia "has not implemented a policy of de-dollarization." In the past two days, Putin and Trump have been arguing across the air, both calling each other a "paper tiger."
As a result, Putin’s sudden words “no dollarization” or “no dollarization” will naturally make the outside world feel overwhelming because just after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Putin also said that the Russian economy’s process of dollarization is inevitable.
And now, Putin has said the opposite, it is naturally easy to be interpreted by the outside world as a critical scourge and retreat to Trump.So, is Putin's statement really not a retreat?Russia has implemented a de-dollarization policy, in fact, should not look at what the leaders said, but what Russia has been doing in the last two years.
The real meaning of Putin's "not going to dollarize"
First of all, to be clear, Russia’s de-dollarization policy is action and outcome, and what Putin now says is “no-dollarization,” only by stressing that Russia is being forced to switch to other currency payments under unilateral sanctions.
In other words, Putin's statement portrayed Russia as a victim. Russia did not take the initiative to challenge the international financial order. Instead, Western unilateral sanctions affected and undermined the current international financial order, which led to the result of "de-dollarization" in Russia.
Secondly, Putin also stressed that those countries who have doubts about the US dollar hegemony, from the perspective of Russia, are of course natural allies, because Western sanctions have to keep Russia away from the US dollar to pay, so with the countries mentioned above can win more understanding.
Although Putin's above statement shows that Russia has not taken the initiative to challenge the international financial order with the US dollar as its core, it still reveals a subtle gesture, which can also be understood as a test for the White House.
In August, around the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Putin and Trump had talked face-to-face once, although they did not talk about any outcome, but it was a trial between the US and Russia, both have released a clear signal of ending the conflict and easing the situation.
If we want to continue to promote this situation now, whether it is Putin himself or Russia, we naturally have to make various gestures. Only by sending a clear signal to the United States in this way can we know what the United States will do next.
But gestures are just gestures. On a practical level, in the past few years, Russia has actually implemented de-dollarization policies. These measures have enabled Russia to survive the pressure of Western sanctions.
How does it operate?
In fact, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, because Russia always wanted to integrate into the West, dollarization in the Russian economy was quite serious for many years. If it had not been for the subsequent Ukraine crisis, the Russian economy would have shown deep dollarization rather than de-dollarization.
For example, in 2013, trade between Russia and the EU amounted to $41 billion, many of which were settled in US dollars.
Seven years later, in 2020, a new round of Russia-Ukraine conflict has not yet broken out. However, the relationship between Russia and Ukraine has become tense. Around this point, Europe and the United States are also putting pressure on Russia step by step. It is against this background that the trade volume between Russia and Europe has dropped to only about 210 billion US dollars.
Later, the U.S. and Europe began to impose sanctions on Russia, and Russia was also at the forefront, especially in the financial field, the West has been threatening to remove Russia from the SWIFT system, which Russia has not failed to weaken, taking the opportunity to establish its own payment system and financial information exchange system.
This is critical because after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia officially started the actual operation of de-dollarization with its own system. Specifically, after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Russia vigorously implemented the ruble settlement mechanism.
As long as a country is recognized as unfriendly to Russia, if it wants to purchase Russian oil or natural gas, it must be settled and paid through a ruble account opened by Gazprombank. Prior to this, the US dollar could be regarded as hard currency, and both the seller and the buyer could directly use the US dollar for settlement.
Another Russian strategy is to strengthen the guidance of public opinion. In the process of de-dollarization, Russia has been shaping the image of being forced to de-dollarize from beginning to end. In this way, Russia has completed the propaganda and mobilization of de-dollarization domestically and established a de-dollarization atmosphere in the entire society.
Especially after the continued deterioration of US-Russian relations, Russia has taken upgrade measures. The data can be very intuitive, for example, in the first quarter of 2020, the settlement share of the US dollar was still up to 61.5%, in just one year, the settlement share of the US dollar fell to 48.3%.
In other words, despite substantial de-dollarization actions, Russia has been creating a forced image at the public opinion level, using this way, Russia is primarily seeking the support of the international community.
Finally, there is another point, that is, to strengthen cooperation with the international community, especially on the issue of de-dollarization. Russia is well aware that it is difficult to achieve its goals in the economic and financial fields by its own strength. It is precisely with this that Russia has been deepening cooperation with countries other than Western countries in recent years.
Energy trade with India, for example, would be less than $10 billion in energy trade between the two countries before 2021. By 2023, energy trade between the two countries had exceeded $45 billion. Foreign trade settlement ratio using domestic currencies was initially less than 15% and subsequently increased to 40%.
Since Russia has taken substantial action, what will Russia do next: will it continue to push for the de-dollarization policy, or will it temporarily slow down?
Practical actions will not be postponed
While Putin has stated this, in the next practical action, Russia will not take suspensive measures.Why say so?That’s because Russia’s de-dollarization campaign had been planned before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Specifically, 10 years ago, Russia discussed with Belarus and Kazakhstan the establishment of a monetary union and the issue of getting rid of the US dollar. At that time, Putin considered that in order to protect Russia's national sovereignty and get rid of its dependence on the US dollar, Western sanctions against Russia must be reduced through de-dollarization.
Because the Western sanctions on Russia have previously been a step-by-step, hot water cooking of frogs, and Russia’s increasing dependence on the dollar in foreign trade, so Russia’s highest levels are aware of the risks. Assuming the economic level and the dollar are overly bound, and the Western countries suddenly impose comprehensive sanctions on Russia, that would be a deadly blow to Russia.
Because of this, Russia has been emphasizing the need to reduce its dependence on the US dollar through various international organizations. On a practical level, Russia has also been selling off the national debt of all NATO countries, further reducing the economy's dependence on US dollar settlement.
In addition, many high-level officials in Russia are also consistent in their attitude towards de-dollarization. For example, the governor of Russia's central bank has put forward specific ideas and suggestions around de-dollarization for many years.
For example, Russia’s previous finance ministers have also developed specific measures to de-dollarize.In 2018, Russia combined tax incentives and de-dollarization policies.By 2021, Russia’s National Welfare Fund would clear all of its dollars.
The above-mentioned series of measures were pushed by Russia before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and now the United States and Europe are still imposing sanctions on Russia, the relationship between the two sides is even worse, how could Russia stop its policy of dollarization?
Therefore, what is certain is that Russia will not take the initiative to use the US dollar as a monetary medium, whether in the field of foreign trade or in other economic activities, but will instead adopt a series of further policies.
In this situation, how will the US-led West respond to the series of strategies adopted by Russia?
The US does not pay, Europe pays.
In the global economic and financial order, the US dollar is still at the core. If Russia is completely eliminated, the United States actually doesn't matter. Because Americans believe that the dollar will not be abandoned for some time to come, and as long as the current model continues, the rules will not change.
The United States is the leader of this set of rules, Russia is only a participant, and the elimination of the latter will not affect the series of measures that the United States is pushing. but the problem is that if the border with Russia is thoroughly cleared, the resulting chaos, instability and even price rise must be paid by Europe due to Russia's special energy supplier status.
On the one hand, the violent fluctuations in the international commodity market have caused a series of economic activities, including energy, to become extremely unstable, and the prices of all commodities are soaring. Europe is also a region with extreme energy shortages, which is equivalent to Pushing all the pressure on Europe.
On the other hand, since Trump came to power, it has been soft and hard, hoping that Europe can take on more responsibility. As a result, many EU countries have to be forced to raise defense budgets, and eventually all European countries have to pay themselves. That is, a series of costs generated by the U.S. pushed to exclude Russia, the U.S. does not take on, but the whole of Europe.
Europe is trapped between the United States and Russia, and as long as the US-Russian relationship is not really eased, Europe will have to pay for the various actions and harassment of the United States and bear the cost.
conclusion
So, to summarize the above situation, Putin's recent statements are only a trial and a subtle shift in the gesture, Russia's policy as a whole will not have a big shift, and the U.S. side, also has to see how Trump will respond to Putin's statements.
This also means that Russia's de-dollarization policy will continue to be implemented. Because of the good results achieved in the past few years, Russia's fundamental policy will not take a sharp turn. Even if adjustments do occur in the future, the whole process will be long and won't change immediately.
References:
"Why can Russia withstand extreme sanctions?" Global Magazine April 9, 2025
'Putin's' Non-De-Dollarization 'Is A Savvy' Tactical Judo '' Oe ShimbunOctober 04, 2025
“Dollarization: Russia’s counterattack in the Russian-American financial war” Russia’s Eastern Europe Study of Central Asia 2021