There is something that has been happening for a while now, and it’s becoming increasingly clear: the BRICS are seriously moving to get rid of the dollar. Russia has just issued bonds worth 2.8 billion denominated in renminbi, China’s currency, and this is no small detail if you understand what’s really going on beneath the surface.

The move is interesting because Russia took advantage of China’s lower interest rates to finance itself, but the important part is elsewhere: the entire operation was carried out using Russian settlement and accounting infrastructure, without external intermediaries. In other words, Russia and China are building their own parallel financial channels.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was quite explicit about this. He mentioned that the issuance created a sovereign benchmark that will serve as a reference for companies and will deepen bilateral financial cooperation. Translation: they are laying the groundwork for more trade transactions between the two countries to be conducted directly in renminbi, without touching dollars.

What I find relevant is that a large part of Russia’s National Wealth Fund, which is around 50 billion, is already denominated in China’s currency. That means Russian companies have access to cheaper financing when operating in renminbi. It’s a structural incentive to abandon the dollar.

Russia and China’s currencies are gaining ground in bilateral transactions, and what we saw with the bonds is just another step in that direction. Foreign investors could also participate in the issuance, so it’s not a closed market, but the message is clear: the financial infrastructure between Russia and China is decoupling from the dollarized system. It’s one of those moves that probably doesn’t make big headlines, but when you look at it from a broad perspective, it’s part of a fairly deep structural change in how international trade is financed.