Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska slams his country's 'primitive' financial system, says it is 'bondage and usury based on state banks'

• Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska slammed his country's "primitive" finance system in a Monday post.
• He said countries globally are setting themselves up for the new multi-currency order — but not Russia.
• It's not the first time Deripaska, who is sanctioned by the US, UK, and EU, is criticizing Russia.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska slammed his country's "primitive" state finance system for being dominated by state banks, amid a discourse about countries moving away from using the dollar as the world's reserve currency.

Deripaska, who founded aluminum giant Rusal and is worth $2.6 billion per Forbes, said in a Telegram post on Monday that countries around the world are setting themselves up to take create advantages for themselves in "this new world."

"Everyone — apart from us," said Deripaska. "With our financial system of bondage and usury based on state banks, and our most primitive understanding of the role of debt, credit, capital in the economy, we are sliding further and further into the past."

Deripaska was sharing his views about an international financial system that isn't dominated by the US dollar, a scenario he foresees in about three to five years.

The tycoon — who has been sanctioned by the US, the UK, and the European Union— didn't explain why he thinks Russia is lagging in setting itself up in the new multi-currency world he envisions.

The billionaire's comments come amid questions about the dominance of the dollar. Just last week, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva lashed out at the dominance of the greenback and called on emerging nations to come up with an alternative currency for trade, the AFP reported on April 14.

Sweeping Western-led sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine war have also prompted Russian companies to use alternative currencies to trade.

The Chinese yuan, in particular, has been gaining traction as the Chinese currency overtook the greenback as the most traded currency in Russia for the very first time, according to Bloomberg's transaction data published on April 3. The trend continued in March, with the yuan pulling ahead of the dollar by an even wider margin. The Chinese currency's trade volume in Russia was "negligible" before the war.

Just last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese President Xi Jinping that Russia was ready to switch to using the yuan for foreign trade settlements, Russia's RBC media outlet reported on March 21.

It's not the first time Deripaska has criticized Russia

At the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum in Siberia last month, Deripaska called on the Russian government to stop interfering in businesses and to focus on attracting foreign investors back to the country, Reuters reported. At the time, he warned the country's funds were running low and "there will be no money next year."

In June 2022, he told reporters in Moscow he was "troubled" that Russia was abandoning economic progress with its war against Ukraine, per Reuters.

He also spoke out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine days after the war started in February 2022, urging the two countries to start negotiations for peace "as fast as possible."

A spokesperson for Deripaska did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.