Russia and India begin negotiations to use national currencies in settlements

Over the past 6 months, there has been much talk about the strategic proximity between Russia and China, made even more proximal following the "Holy Grail" gas deal announced in May which would not have happened on such an accelerated time frame had it not been for US escalation in Ukraine.

Yet little has been said about the relationship between Russia and India.

That is about to change when yesterday the Russian central bank announced that having been increasingly shunned by the west, Russia discussed cooperation with Reserve Bank of India Executive Director Shrikant Padmanabhan.

The punchline: India agreed to create a task group to work out a mechanism for using national currencies in settlements. And so another major bilateral arrangement is set up that completely bypasses the dollar.

Source: Zero Hedge