Russia set to approve use of crypto to evade international sanctions

RUSSIA says it will bypass international sanctions by beginning cross-border transactions using cryptocurrency by the end of this year.

Elvira Nabiullina - governor of Moscow's central bank - today said the country, currently under a slew of fiscal clampdowns by Western governments over its invasion of Ukraine, will ramp up its international trade through crypto.

It is expected the nation's lower house of parliament will give the green light to a tabled law that will permit companies in Russia to make international payments using digital assets.

The law could be sanctioned as early as October by regulators in Moscow who are understood to have become "much more flexible" over the proposed use of cryptocurrencies in the last six months.

"We are already discussing the conditions of the experiment with ministries, agencies and businesses, and we expect that the first such payments will take place by the end of this year," Nabiullina said.

"The risks of secondary sanctions have grown. They make payments for imports difficult, and that concerns a wide range of goods."