Moscow, Sep 8 (IANS): Traditional reserve currencies like the US dollar and the euro have lost their credibility as a basis for international settlements, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"Western countries have undermined the foundations of the global economic system. There is a loss of confidence in the dollar, the euro and the pound sterling as currencies in which to conduct transactions, hold assets and reserves," RT reported citing the President as saying at the seventh annual Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Wednesday.

He also noted that this tendency pushes Russia and many other nations to switch to other currencies, most notably the Chinese yuan.

"Step by step we are moving away from the use of these unreliable, compromised currencies. And by the way, even US allies are gradually reducing their savings and payments in dollars, according to statistics... I will note that yesterday Gazprom and its Chinese partners agreed to pay for gas in rubles and yuan in a 50/50 split," Putin said.

Western nations are hurting everyone, including their own people, in an attempt to preserve global dominance that is slipping from their hands, he added.

According to Putin, unfolding global economic crisis was triggered by "Western elites, who would not, or even cannot acknowledge objective facts" about global changes, RT reported.

Leaders in the US and their allies are seeking to preserve "the world order that benefits only them, forcing everyone to live under the rules, which they invented and which they regularly break and constantly change depending on the situation," he added.