China's top envoy to Germany has warned the West against punishing Russia with sanctions

[DFW]

4. "Why....should we be negotiating in dollars?" Ever walked the streets of Moscow, TOB. Likachev?

Because everything is done in dollars, THAT'S why. Maybe it's beneath the dignity of a Deputy Minister to get down to street level these days,I don't know.

When you negotiate with the taxi driver, it's in dollars. When you go buy stuff at the flea market, it's in dollars. Want a deal at the open air market for the food you'll be eating at lunch? Pay in dollars. Negotiate a deal with a company in the west to import something, or to sell them something? In Russia, it's done in dollars. Rubles are for the poor krestyany who have no dollars.

The Russians were perfectly content to let their ruble become play money and the dollar be the de facto hard currency even before the fall of the Soviet Union, although my German friends tell me the D-Mark was also welcome before the Euro. They won't change the people's minds (or habits) overnight, no matter what imperial ambitions Putin has in mind.

As for the Chinese, considering what they did to Tibet, they hardly could come up with another response without being asked when the Independence Celebrations would begin in Lhasa.