“The payment platform is an opportunity, of course we will continue to move forward,” Pankin said in an interview with the Sputnik news agency on Friday during the 17th Verona Eurasian Economic Forum, which is being held in the city of Ras al-Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates.

The Russian deputy foreign minister clarified that it is not about creating a common currency as the European Union did with the Euro. “It is not a Euro-BRICS or a BRICS-euro,” he said.

Trump previously threatened the BRICS member countries with “100 percent tariffs” if they try to establish an alternative currency to the dollar, even though Russian President Vladimir Putin previously stated that it is still too early to talk about a single currency within the group.

Pankin downplayed Trump’s threats, adding that the US president-elect will change his statements as he did on multiple occasions during his first term, changing them in one direction or another, said the Russian deputy foreign minister.

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