NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakhstan has decided to use Russian rubles for the payment of customs fees in bilateral trade after Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine made it impossible to use other foreign currencies.
The Kazakh prime minister's office said on March 18 that the sanctions, which include blocking Russia from the SWIFT financial-transaction-messaging system, forced the move, though trade with Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, the other members of the Eurasian Economic Union, would continue to be carried out in U.S. dollars.
Earlier in the day, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov said that the economic group's member states had agreed to gradually switch to Russian rubles in mutual trade operations.
Also on March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing Russian banks hit by Western sanctions to carry out their obligations with regard to foreign-currency deposits in rubles at the current exchange rate until September 1.
Western sanctions over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine have hit the Russian economy hard, causing the ruble to plummet in value. Meanwhile Russian oil is selling at a big discount on the world market.
Belarus, the other member of the Eurasian Economic Union, was also hit by sanctions for allowing its territory to be used by Russia to launch its attack on Ukraine.
