Russia is now the 3rd-biggest market for yuan transactions outside of mainland China as sanctions block dollar, euro payments

Western sanctions block payments using the dollar and euro in Russia, making it the third largest market for yuan transactions outside of China.

In July, companies and banks based in Russia were involved in almost 4% of the global transactions of the Chinese currency. In June and February, that figure was zero and 1.42%, respectively.

Hong Kong was the biggest user of the yuan outside of the mainland. Britain is in second place.

The renminbi is the fifth most used currency in international payments markets. The US dollar is followed by the euro, British pound and Japanese currency.

The Russian government has been increasing its use of the Chinese currency.

The dollar is the primary currency for most commodities, but Russia has taken payment in the Chinese currency of the same name. Russia has accepted the Chinese currency, the renminbi. Russia's central bank said in March that it would use the renminbi.

Moscow's foreign-currency reserves were frozen by the Western governments after Russia invaded Ukraine.