SPIMEX (The St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange) is actively courting international oil traders to join its emerging futures market, which as Bloomberg reports, is designed "to create a system where Russian oil is priced and traded in a fair and straightforward way."

Step-by-step Russia, China and other emerging economies are taking measures to reduce their dependence on the US dollar, and as SputnikNews detailed, F. William Engdahl warns - referring to Russia's crude oil benchmark initiative - this move could deal a dramatic blow to the "petrodollar's" dominance.

Russia has taken a significant step which will undermine the current Wall Street oil price monopoly: Russia's own crude oil benchmark futures contract will price oil in rubles and no longer in US dollars, American-German researcher, historian and strategic risk consultant F. William Engdahl remarks.