INTERNATIONAL: Ruble payments will be used more in Russia's foreign trade, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday.

It comes after President Vladimir Putin's decree on Thursday on new rules of natural gas trade with "unfriendly" countries and regions. Putin said that foreign buyers of Russian natural gas must pay in rubles from Friday by opening Russian bank accounts or will risk having their existing contracts halted.

Russia will extend its requirement of payments in rubles from gas to other exported goods as the credibility of the dollar and euro has been weakened by Western sanctions against Russia, said Peskov in an interview with Russian media.

European countries, which used to pay for their gas in euros or dollars, now pay Gazprom, Russia's gas industry giant, in rubles instead, effectively continuing to pay in the currency specified in the contract, and Russia did not default, said Peskov.

He said the model, though an initial payment system for the time being, would be expanded to include other goods and would become an increasingly large part of Russia's foreign economic and trade relations.

Peskov did not specify which exports would be settled in rubles. Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said earlier that including gas, ruble-denominated commodities should be expanded to include crude oil, grains, metals, fertilizers, coal and timber.

The spokesman said that this is not to embarrass European partners, but to hedge risks and protect trade. He said Russia has always been a reliable supplier, which Russia cherishes and will not do anything to harm its reputation.

International Monetary Fund chief economist Gita Gopinath told the Financial Times earlier that the raft of sanctions many nations have directed at Russia could erode the global dominance of the United States' dollar and lead to a more fragmented international monetary system.

Gopinath explained that the sanctions may encourage the emergence of smaller currency blocs based on trade between nations, alliances, and continents.

Gopinath added that the greater use of other currencies in global trade would lead to further diversification of the reserve assets held by national central banks.

^{PHOTO: Russia-Rubles/Payment/Expansion}