The Chinese yuan has helped fund Russia's trade and war machine — but those days may be numbered

• The Chinese yuan has become a key currency for Russia's trade settlement.
• But tightened US sanctions are freezing and delaying yuan payments, Bloomberg reports.
• Russia is eying alternative payment systems, including cryptocurrency, to bypass Western sanctions.

Western sanctions have shut Russia out of the dollar-dominant global financial order, but the country has managed to keep its wartime economy humming thanks to the Chinese yuan.