BREAKING: Russia’s $2.6B yuan bond wasn’t de-dollarization — it was desperation.
Moscow issued its first-ever yuan sovereign bond, but here’s the twist:
Chinese investors can’t even buy it.
U.S. sanctions block Chinese banks from touching the Moscow Exchange, and the only buyers were Russian oil companies stuck with yuan they can’t use elsewhere.
Trade numbers look strong on the surface, but underneath:
– Yuan repo rates in Moscow hit 212%
– Chinese banks rejected 98% of Russian payment requests
– Russia needed emergency yuan liquidity it cannot print
Global reserves tell the real story:
The dollar still dominates, the yuan is stuck at 2%, and central banks are piling into gold, not Chinese currency.
Russia didn’t escape the dollar system.
It simply shifted dependence from Washington to Beijing.
Not strategy — necessity.
This is the sovereignty trap.
