In a recent visit to China, Russian deputy prime minister Andrei Belusov stated that, in 2023, the use of the Russian ruble and China's yuan in trade between the two countries reached 95%. From January to October this year, 68% of Russian trade was made using the respective national currencies of the two countries, according to Russia's Minister of Economic Development, Maksim Reshetnikov.
Russia has used the yuan in trade transactions with Mongolia, the Philippines, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Japan, Tajikistan and Singapore.
Currently, imports from Asia, particularly from continental China and Hong Kong, are 40% of all Russia's imports. About 60% of the country's sovereign wealth fund is in RMB (Renminbi, the official currency of China) assets, and 40% of its foreign exchange reserves are also in RMB assets.
No one wants rubles, but the Chinese currency is not convertible, but better that the rubbles.
It will be exciting when the Chinese real estate bubble bursts.
“We found Alexei Navalny,” Kira Yarmysh said on 25 December, adding that he was now in northern Russia. His team had had no contact with him since 6 December, after he was moved from a previous prison. Mr Navalny, considered one of Vladimir Putin's leading opponents, has been imprisoned since 2021.
“His lawyer saw him today. Alexei is fine,” Ms Yarmysh wrote on the Telegram messaging app. She said he had been moved to the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, in northern Russia. The new prison, nicknamed the “Polar Wolf” colony, is considered one of the toughest in Russia. Most detainees held there have been convicted of serious crimes.