Any transactions involving the digital ruble, as well as the RUBx ruble-stablecoin created with the participation of Rostec State Corporation, have been banned. Brussels also banned European companies and citizens from participating directly or indirectly in the development of the digital ruble infrastructure.
The new measures apply to Russian cryptocurrency companies and platforms working with fund transfers. The EU believes that digital assets are increasingly being used by Moscow to circumvent financial restrictions and international settlements outside the Western banking system, RBC reported.
Offsetting schemes with Russian agents, which, according to the EU, help circumvent the current sanctions regime, have also fallen under the sanctions.
The digital ruble is an electronic form of the Russian national currency, which is being developed by the Bank of Russia. It is assumed that digital wallets of citizens and businesses will be placed on the regulator’s platform. RUBx is a ruble token based on the Tron blockchain with a one-to-one peg to the Russian ruble.
A separate blow came to the infrastructure of the A7A5 ruble-stablecoin. The EU imposed restrictions against the Kyrgyz organization that manages the crypto exchange through which transactions with this token took place. A7A5 was launched in Kyrgyzstan in February 2025 and is backed by ruble-denominated bank deposits.
According to analysts at Elliptic and TRM Labs, this is the first time that the EU has actually targeted not individual crypto services, but the entire Russian digital settlement sector. Experts attribute this to Moscow’s growing attempts to use cryptocurrencies and stablecoins for international trade to circumvent sanctions.
