Reports that Russia could resume using the U.S. dollar in trade settlements have drawn fresh attention to how durable its sanctions-era payment alternatives really are. Bloomberg said it reviewed an internal memo describing possible cooperation between Russia and the United States in sectors such as energy and critical materials, with a return to the U.S.-led settlement system also listed as a possibility. Any such move would likely require some or all sanctions on Russia to be lifted and traditional channels for energy-related settlements to reopen.
Russian central bank says it is not part of any talks
The Bank of Russia has publicly distanced itself from the discussion. Governor Elvira Nabiullina said the central bank is not participating in any negotiations connected to a possible improvement in relations with the United States. She also said the institution is not involved in any talks on restoring dollar-based transactions. The message was direct. At least for now, the central bank says it has no seat in those discussions.
Kremlin says Russia never chose to leave the dollar
The Kremlin has taken a different tone, leaving room for a future in which the dollar is used again without treating that as a reversal of Russia’s use of national currencies in trade. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia did not abandon the dollar on its own. He said the issuing country, the United States, restricted some countries’ ability to use the currency, and those countries then turned to alternative payment methods and other forms of settlement.
Peskov added that if the dollar becomes attractive again, countries will return to using it, including alongside other currencies. That framing does not present dollar use and national-currency settlements as mutually exclusive. It presents them as tools that could coexist if the external conditions change.
Alternative systems described as a product of necessity
Analysts have often treated Russia’s wider use of national currencies and non-dollar payment channels as part of a broader move away from the dollar. Peskov pushed back on that interpretation. He said these alternatives were created not because Russia wanted to replace the dollar, but because transactions had to be completed outside the dollar system under existing restrictions.
He also said the dollar would still need to outperform the alternative and national-currency systems that are already in place. Those mechanisms, as described in the source material, are now well established and show resilience in their current form. That leaves the issue less as a simple “return” to the dollar and more as a question of access, sanctions relief, and whether the currency regains enough appeal for trade partners to use it again.