Russia is considering selling its energy exports for cryptocurrency as the country faces crippling sanctions designed to smother its economy.
During a press conference, Pavel Zavalny, the chairman of Russia’s Duma committee on energy, said that because of the sanctions imposed by the United States and other Western powers, his country would consider allowing “friendly” countries such as Turkey and China to pay for oil and natural gas using Bitcoin.
“We have been proposing to China for a long time to switch to settlements in national currencies for rubles and yuan. With Turkey, it will be lira and rubles. The set of currencies can be different, and this is normal practice. You can also trade Bitcoins,” Zavalny said.
The price of Bitcoin, which has gone up and down since the Russian invasion, surged 4.4% on Friday to nearly $45,000. At the start of the war, it was valued at less than $40,000 — a steep decline from its record high of $69,000 in November.
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Zavalny also echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call for companies in “unfriendly” countries such as the U.S. and those in the European Union to pay for oil and gas exports using gold or the ruble, which is a way in which Russia is trying to shore up its failing national currency and evade the bevy of sanctions it is facing.
“If they want to buy, let them pay either in hard currency, and this is gold for us, or pay as it is convenient for us, this is the national currency,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected Putin’s request and noted that it would represent a breach of existing contracts between companies in Germany and Russian energy exporters.
“We’ve looked at this to try to get an overview. What we have learned so far is that there are fixed contracts everywhere, which include the currency in which payments are made,” Scholz said during a Thursday press conference. “And most of the time, it says euro or dollar … and that’s what counts then.”
Europe depends on Russia for approximately one-quarter of its oil imports and 40% of its natural gas.
Russia has been using its energy exports, which have largely sidestepped the sanctions because of how reliant Europe is on them, as leverage as it faces the international pressure campaign.
Earlier this month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak threatened to cut off natural gas to Germany and Europe at large in retaliation for Germany’s decision to stop certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
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“We have every right to take a matching decision and impose an embargo on gas pumping through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline,” Novak warned.
“So far, we are not taking such a decision,” he added. “But European politicians with their statements and accusations against Russia push us toward that.”
