Pavel Zavalny, chairman of the State Duma Energy Committee, said Russia could accept payments in different types of currencies for its oil and natural gas exports, depending on the requirements and the “state of foreign relations of the importing country“, taking Bitcoin as an option for allied countries.

Zavalny made the statements in the framework of a press conference where the scenario of the fuel and energy sector of his country and the world energy markets were addressed”.

“When it comes to our ‘friendly’ countries, like China or Turkey, who don’t put pressure on us, we have been offering them for a while to switch payments to national currencies, like rubles and yuan. With Turkey, it can be lira and rubles. So there can be a variety of currencies, and that’s standard practice. If they want Bitcoins, we will exchange Bitcoins,” said the parliamentarian.

Russia seeks mechanisms to evade sanctions

The Russian government, within the framework of the growing economic sanctions imposed, is looking for different mechanisms that allow it to sell its export products. Therefore, it is not closed to any of the possible alternatives, including receiving cryptocurrencies as a way payment for energy resources.

As will be remembered last Tuesday, Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, held a televised meeting with his government team where he stated that he will demand that “unfriendly” countries cancel the purchase of Russian gas in rubles. This generated confusion in the gas market and significantly impacted the price of fuel in Europe.

The president of the Energy Committee supported the president’s decision and added that the State should also admit other assets such as Bitcoin and gold. Zavalny said: “When we trade with Western countries… they should pay in hard currency, and hard money is gold, or they should pay in currencies that suit us, and that is the national currency: the ruble. That relates to our “unfriendly” countries.

For their part, the governments of the United States and the European Union, concerned that Russia may use cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, reiterated that these regulations also extend to cryptographic assets. Therefore, they are modifying their policies and regulations to in order to prevent Russia from entering the cryptocurrency market.

M. Rodríguez

Source: diariobitcoin.com

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