The US Dollar’s New Fate: Lavrov Claims the End of an Era Has Begun

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that the West has degraded the U.S. dollar’s status as a global reserve currency by using it as “a weapon of oppression” against geopolitical adversaries.

Russia's top diplomat on Monday accused the West of driving the U.S. dollar to its “death” as a global reserve currency by wielding it as a “weapon of oppression” against geopolitical adversaries.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian following their meeting in Moscow on January 16, 2023.

“The dollar, which for decades has been advertised to us as the common property of all mankind, has been turned into a weapon of oppression and punishment of geopolitical competitors and simply disobedient ones,” Tass quoted Lavrov as saying at a meeting with young diplomats on Monday.

“In doing so, they have essentially written a death warrant for the dollar as a global reserve currency and a means of international settlement.”

The Russian official went on to say that the U.S. and its allies are now dismantling the very globalization system that they once promoted.

“The collective West, led by the United States, having lost the ability to influence the world through the institutions they control, and realizing that they are losing the competition in the economy, technology, and other spheres of peaceful development, have decided to dismantle the globalization system,” Lavrov said.

“They are doing this clumsily, aggressively, and to the detriment of themselves and others.”

Lavrov also highlighted BRICS' increasing reliance on national currencies.

“Everybody wants to create alternative payment mechanisms, interbank settlements with the use of national currencies,” Lavrov explained, regarding BRICS members' plans for resilient payment systems independent of the dollar during Russia's presidency of the bloc.

“We are advancing these plans step by step.”

Russian Deputy Chief of Staff Maxim Oreshkin also emphasized BRICS' economic influence, saying that BRICS countries are continuously dominating the global economic growth and are already leaders in the world economy.

Oreshkin attributed this dominance to various factors, highlighting rapid growth in South Asia and Africa, including Nigeria and Ethiopia, among others.

Lavrov noted that BRICS will continue expanding, with many countries expressing interest in membership due to the bloc's growing influence on the global stage.

“People in countries of the global East vote primarily for politicians proclaiming their plans to establish closer relations with BRICS one way or another,” Lavrov said, regarding the interest in joining the bloc.

“We expect that these talks will continue in 2025.”

He also clarified that while new countries may soon join as partners, certain high-level meetings will be limited to full members.