Use national currencies in mutual transactions
Speaking at an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing, Putin also ruled out capital controls for Russia and vowed to keep its foreign debt level below 15 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
"As part of our cooperation with this country [China], we intend to use national currencies in mutual transactions," Putin said.
"The initial deals for rouble and yuan are taking place. I want to note that we are ready to expand these opportunities in (our) energy resources trade."
Putin's remarks came a day after China and Russia vowed to deepen their energy ties with a second blockbuster deal that lessens Russian reliance on Europe and would secure almost a fifth of the gas supplies China needs by the end of the decade. The deal is slightly smaller than the US$400 billion accord reached earlier this year.
Russian oil firm Gazprom is negotiating the supply of as much as 30 billion cubic metres of gas a year from developments in western Siberia to China over 30 years. Another Russian producer, Rosneft, agreed to sell a 10 per cent stake in a Siberian unit to China National Petroleum Corp.
Spurred on by their often testy relations with the United States, Russia and China have long advocated reducing the role of the dollar in international trade.
Curtailing the dollar's influence fits well with China's ambitions to increase the influence of the yuan and eventually turn it into a global reserve currency. With 32 per cent of its US$4 trillion foreign exchange reserves invested in US government debt, China wants to curb investment risks in dollar.