The United States is a great power with great potential, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the "Russia calling!" VTB Capital Investment Forum.
"The U.S. is also a great country. More than three hundred million people live there, it has the largest economy in the world. Its only universal reserve currency is dollar," the Russian leader said.
“The U.S. spends $700 billion on defence, while we spend $46 billion. It exceeds the total defense spending of all countries of the world taken together,” Putin said.
"But we need to treat each other with respect and show this respect in concrete cases," he urged.
The president 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, stressing that he said this more than once. "I hope that, if we can talk with the U.S. president in Argentina, we will discuss that too," the Russian leader expressed hope.
According to Putin, the U.S. administration should find consensus inside the country and encourage the elites to have constructive cooperation with partners.
The president also noted that Moscow is not aiming to abandon the dollar, "it's the dollar that is abandoning us, Putin said, explaining that 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.
Putin also noted that assets in dollars even held by the biggest holders are shrinking, and Russia with the number of its trade and economic partners are working on development of interbank payment systems independent from SWIFT.
"We are proactively working with certain countries, with our largest trade and economic partners, to develop systems that would be independent from SWIFT. Certainly, alternative routes will be found to make the global economy more stable, more predictable, and to make settlements more efficient and reliable," the head of state assured.
