Billions in Russian oil sale profits are stuck in Indian banks, marking a blow to President Vladimir Putin’s attempts to stop using the U.S. dollar for trade.
Commodities such as oil, gold and wheat are typically traded around the globe in U.S. dollars, the world’s reserve currency.
However Russia’s financial system was essentially isolated by Western sanctions imposed after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, making his country unable to make transactions in greenbacks, thus limiting trade.
Modern currencies run on mutual faith in the ongoing GDP of the nation, and the ability to pay at least the interest on debt. Clearly Russia is having trouble with one or both issues.