Russia starts accepting payments in digital rubles for the budget.

Russia will begin accepting payments into the federal budget in digital rubles starting January 1, 2026. The announcement came after the country made its first CBDC payments this year. According to the leader of the Federal Treasury, Roman Artyukhin, starting in 2027, digital rubles will be usable for all state budget transactions. Russia is also promoting the “digital treasury” project, which will help localities receive 277 billion rubles this year and is expected to receive 325 billion rubles by the end of the year.

The Central Bank of Russia has been testing the digital ruble since 2023 and will officially launch it on September 1, 2026, a year later than planned to allow organizations to prepare the infrastructure. Transactions between personal wallets will be free, while other payments will have low fees. However, experts believe that the digital ruble will be difficult to use widely due to the lack of interest rates for users.