China is buying Russian oil and coal with its local currency as Western sanctions on Moscow spur trade deals that don't rely on the US dollar. In March, several Chinese firms used yuan to purchase Russian coal, which will begin arriving this month and mark the first commodity shipments purchased in China's currency since the war in Ukraine began, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile, the first shipments of Russian oil purchased in yuan will arrive at independent Chinese refiners in May, sources told Bloomberg. Such deals are typically priced in dollars. But Western sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine have ... (full story)