One of the world’s reserve currencies, the U.S. dollar, may soon disappear in Russia. According to deputies of the State Duma, the Russians trust the dollar, despite the U.S. crisis. Russian MPs are worried that the dollar system may collapse in 2017 due to the growth of the U.S. government debt.
Michael Dyagterev, politician, member of the State Duma from the Liberal Democratic Party
“The main objective of the bill is to have a discussion. This is multi- task goal, one of the parts of which is to stop the entry of the dollar in Russia. The second task is to push our leaders towards making all our export operations, including oil and gas ones, in rubles. And, as the crown of the strategy, to create a global reserve currency called the ruble. There’s nothing to fear. It’s the Americans who should be worried. Their national debt is 17 trillion dollars, and it will grow from month to month. Buildup debt is a strategy of the American elite. Since debt is a process that has its end, then the process will end with a default or any other type of turmoil. We need to convert all reserves of the country into gold. No currency should be left there, all paper reserves are disastrous for Russia. This is also a part of the strategy that should be conducted.”
Should the bill on the ban of the circulation and storage of U.S. dollars in Russia be approved, the owners of American bank notes will have to either spend their dollar cash within one year or exchange it for another currency. Otherwise, banks will be forced to sell dollars at an average exchange rate of the previous year. There will be special measures provided to prevent the storage and use of dollars. The American currency will be seized by law enforcement agencies for a period of up to 30 days, and then exchanged and returned to the owner in the domestic currency.
Michael Dyagterev, politician, member of the State Duma from the Liberal Democratic Party.
“With regard to the dollars kept by citizens, the bill stipulated no special measures. We simply encourage people to convert all their dollar deposits in rubles, exchange all cash dollars for rubles, or some reliable currency, for example, the Swiss franc, or buy gold. In the event dollars are found, the state will pay the equivalent in rubles, dollars will be withdraw from circulation and exchanged for rubles.”
Will the bill come into force? It is obvious that it will trigger a vivid discussion reminiscent to the never-ending debate between Westerners and Slavophiles.