All Russian exports could soon be in rubles

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated on Wednesday that all of the nation's energy and commodity exports could be priced in rubles. Moscow has already demanded that gas exports to hostile countries should be paid for in the Russian currency.

Peskov was asked about the comments by parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who earlier in the day called for pricing all of Russian commodity exports in domestic currency.

“This is an idea that should definitely be worked on,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

According to Peskov, the US dollar’s role as a global reserve currency had already taken a hit and a move to pricing Russia’s biggest exports in rubles would be “in our interests and the interests of our partners.”

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to develop the necessary tools to switch all payments for Russian natural gas from “unfriendly states” to rubles from March 31. The measure concerns countries that imposed economic sanctions on Russia and froze Moscow’s foreign reserves.

In response, Volodin said in a related post on Telegram, “If you want gas, find rubles,” adding, “Moreover, it would be right – where it is beneficial for our country – to widen the list of export products priced in rubles to include: fertilizer, grain, food oil, coal, crude oil, metals, timber, etc.”

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