MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Friday of using the dollar as a tool of economic and political war and said Russia may consider settling transactions for oil and gas in other national currencies and the euro.

Speaking at an annual economic forum in St Petersburg, Putin said it would be a serious blow to the U.S. dollar if Russia‘s oil companies stopped using the currency, but that Moscow did not want to do that.

PUTIN WANTS TO FIND WAYS WİTH BIDEN TO IMPROVE TIES

Putin said he hopes to improve deeply damaged ties with the United States when he holds his first summit with US counterpart Joe Biden later this month.

“We need to find ways to regularise these relations,” Putin told the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, adding that Russia-US ties are currently at a “low level”.

U.S. SANCTIONS DRIVEN BY DOMESTIC POLITICAL COMPETITION

Putin said that U.S. sanctions against Russia were driven by domestic political competition in the United States and were an “enigma” to Moscow.

Putin said the United States was open about wanting to hold back Russia’s development.

RUSSIA FINISHES FIRST NORD STREAM 2 LINE

Russia has finished laying the first line of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, Putin told an economic forum.

He added that Russia was ready to carry out similar projects with Europe. Nord Stream 2’s second line has yet to be finished.