Russia tries to expand to the East at a faster pace: another proof of a new political course was the announcement of a transition to the ruble in settlements between North Korea and the Russian Federation. The parties have already developed the scheme of transition to the new payment system. During the briefing, Alexander Galushka, Minister of the Development of the Russian Far East, said it is necessary to enlarge the current trade volumes between the two countries to $2 billion by 2020. This task will require not only revising the settlement system but also transferring to payments in the Russian national currency. “Russia and the DPRK have begun carrying out transactions in rubles in the framework of agreements, reached during the 6th meeting of the intergovernmental committee on commercial-economic relations between the Russian Federation and the DPRK, headed by the Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East Alexander Galushka,” the statement posted on ministry’s website reads. Besides, this spring, the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed a law ratifying an agreement on settlement of the DPRK's debt to Russia of the loans given during the USSR period. Until that moment, the documentary proof that North Korea's debt to Russia amounted to $10.94 billion as of September 17, 2012 existed. It was reported earlier that Russia agreed to write off 90% of the debt; the remaining 10% ($1.09 billion) is to be paid off in the US dollars in 40 installments over the next 20 years by credits to a non-interest bearing account of Vnesheconombank in the DPRK's Bank of foreign trade.