Russia has no plans to abandon the bi-currency basket against which the central bank sets the ruble's real foreign exchange rate, and hopes that the economic problems in the euro zone will be solved in the near future, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday.
"Europe is our strategic partner and the situation in the euro zone influences how a number of goals which we set in our country is solved," Medvedev told a news conference after a Russia-EU summit.
"We are maintaining our approach to forming a bi-currency basket, which naturally includes the European currency. For us this is not an abstract issue, but an absolutely concrete one."
Russia's bi-currency basket consists of $0.55 and 0.45 euros.
Europe is suffering a severe sovereign debt crisis, with Portugal, Ireland and Greece having applied for financial aid from the EU and the International Monetary Fund. Analysts say the debt crisis threatens to spread to core euro zone countries and the emerging markets of Eastern Europe.
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, June 10 (RIA Novosti)