Who do you think would have a good reason to misrepresent the truth? China and Russia getting away with trade without US involvement is good for China and Russia, so it benefits them to state that even if that's not exactly what's going on.
In this case it makes a ton of sense given the sanctions against Russia, but I do try to look for independent verification of any large story when the only source has interests in misrepresenting the truth.
Also worth mentioning that if you look past the article into the actual context, you'd end up with a headline that reads: "Two struggling economies under the threat of collapse due to mismanagement and poor resource allocation begin trading their depreciating currencies in a desperate attempt to stay afloat."
Just like many western outlets are mouthpieces for us in the West. If there are other sources that present different data please post them to dispute this.
I didn't dispute the data, I'm saying that the source isn't neutral.
The data may very well be accurate or not, I don't know enough to comment either way. I suspect it's not entirely accurate because both Russia and China have a history of massaging numbers and having inaccurate reporting.
But putting that aside - Russia and China both want to get rid of the US dollar as the dominant currency for their own interests. It's not surprising that Russia-China trades are now conducted mostly without the use of US dollars. The fact that this comes from a known government mouthpiece means it's just nationalist self-promotion.
Questioning the motive of the source is always good practice. If you see an article saying "Survey shows Hyundai emerges as the best car brand in 2023", it would make a difference if this news was taken from the Hyundai website or BBC.
It's not a matter of being pro-US or pro-Russia/China. There are skewed news sources in ever country, the US included.
The folks with their dick in the asshole of the guy you are sucking off. Kind of difficult to see from your vantage point but everyone else can see it.
You could see this coming years in advance. People started dropping the dollar when American politicians weaponized the dollar to push their agenda on the rest of the world.
They're not avoiding USD because they want to. They are avoiding because they don't have a choice.
The value of using USD is its consistency (compared to nearly all other world currencies). China regularly manipulates its currency and sovereign economic indicators. If Russia is holding lots of Yuan China has a huge amount of control over the fragile Russian economy. If China is holding lots of Rubles China has even MORE control.
Russia would far more prefer to settle in EUR, USD, or GBP, except they don't have those as choices.