President Vladimir Putin has touted a new international payments framework to world leaders gathered in Russia this week, eager to show how he is shrugging off western sanctions and challenging the US-dominated global financial order.

Putin accused western powers of “using the dollar as a weapon”, arguing in a speech at a Brics summit in Kazan that sanctions against Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine “undermine the trust in this currency and diminish its powers”.

The main agenda item of the summit, attended by the leaders of China, India, Iran and others, was a Russian proposal to circumvent the US dollar by setting up a new payments messaging system known as “Brics Bridge”.