CHISINAU, October 9 (RIA Novosti) - Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Friday that Russia was not holding any talks on switching to non-dollar oil payments.

Britain's Independent newspaper reported on Tuesday that Russian officials have held "secret meetings" with Arab states, China and France on ending the use of the U.S. dollar in international oil trading.

"Such negotiations are not being held," Kudrin said.

A Kremlin aide said on Thursday he was unaware of any such discussions on the issue, but that it could be advantageous to switch to alternative currency for oil payments.

"We have long been saying that there is some sense in creating the conditions for making ruble payments, including for oil, attractive," Arkady Dvorkovich said. "The subject is worth discussing, but I do not know if specific talks on the issue are underway."

The dollar plummeted on Tuesday after the paper's article, while gold surged well above $1,000 an ounce in international trading.