" ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances....
"It seems to me that the United States is making a very big mistake by using the dollar as a sanctions instrument... by preventing payment in dollars for the sanctioned products," Putin told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble on Wednesday, after a panel at the Russian Energy Week.Countries facing US sanctions, like Russia, "have no other choice, we are simply forced to switch to settlements in other currencies," he added. Gamble had asked about the possibility of using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to sell oil and gas, something Putin welcomed in principle but said it was "too early," citing crypto’s volatility.
Russia is happy to use dollars in energy trade — for now — and has now plans to ditch the US dollar entirely, Putin noted, but "if the policy of the American authorities continues... then we will not have to do anything, the US will itself undermine confidence in the dollar."