Russian president: US should abandon policy of unilateral sanctions and seek common ground

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the United States to abandon the policy of unilateral sanctions and seek common ground.

"We are ready for that, we want that," the head of state noted. "I said this more than once. I hope that, if we can talk with the US president in Argentina, we will discuss that too," the Russian leader said at the "Russia calling!" VTB Capital Investment Forum.

The president believes that the U.S. administration should find consensus inside the country and encourage the elites to have constructive cooperation with partners.

Russia is not aiming to abandon the dollar, "it's the dollar that is abandoning us, Putin said. Such instability in dollar calculations fuels the desire of many global economies to find alternative reserve currencies and create settlement systems independent of the dollar," he noted. The Russian leader stressed that assets in dollars even held by the biggest holders are shrinking.

Russia and the number of its trade and economic partners are working on development of interbank payment systems independent from SWIFT, Putin said.

"We are proactively working with certain countries, with our largest trade and economic partners, to develop systems that would be independent from SWIFT," TASS cited him as saying.

"Certainly, alternative routes will be found to make the global economy more stable, more predictable, and to make settlements more efficient and reliable," Putin added.