Russia & Venezuela Discuss Using Petro & Russian Ruble To Circumvent Sanctions

Using the ruble, Venezuela plans to complete bilateral trade settlements with Russia. Venezuela’s official representative to the UN office in Geneva, Jorge Valero, disclosed the details. The envoy noted that Venezuelan government-sponsored oil-backed crypto El Petro (PTR), introduced in 2018, is also being discussed by the nations.

Caracas fixed the petro’s value to the cost of one barrel of Venezuelan oil. Venezuela’s regional currency, the bolivar, was also linked to El Petro last summer by the govt. Valero allegedly disclosed that Venezuelan officials are now collaborating with Russia to discover ways to eliminate the use of the greenback in trade agreements between both nations.

As such, the officials of the two nations are allegedly weighing up the use of the ruble, in addition to the oil-backed Petro crypto currency of Venezuela, a contentious initiative that was started in February 2018.

Multiple penalties imposed by the US on Venezuela compelled the Bolivarian Republic to cease using the euro for its global operations. Last October, it switched to the euro. The nation also began to swap crude oil for imported goods. As per the International Monetary Fund’s prediction, Venezuela is presently attempting to overcome one of the worst financial collapses in history with hyperinflation reaching 10,000,000% this year.

In the midst of Venezuela’s global financial crisis, deteriorated by fresh US penalties, and also the continuing presidential crisis, Valero also voiced his wishes for Russian assistance in clearing the international debt of Venezuela.

The ambassador noted that the U.S. sanctions against the petroleum industry in Venezuela, along with freezing its bank accounts, had a huge adverse effect on the economy of the country. The policies robbed the Latin American country of unrestricted access to global economic assistance and petroleum industry investment. Global specialists have condemned the Venezuelan Petro, which was intended to fight poverty and hyperinflation, for absence of worldwide visibility. Some also wondered whether Venezuelan oil genuinely backed the petro.

The US President Donald Trump issued a blanket ban on American residents from buying Petro in March 2018 following the release of the petro. Lately, Moscow-based financial institution Evrofinance Mosnarbank has been added to the sanctions list by the U.S. Treasury Department because of a claim that the bank was a “primary international financial institution willing to finance” Petro.

The Treasury defined the Petro as an unsuccessful venture that sought to assist Venezuela in preventing US economic penalties. In April, a consultant to Russia’s president suggested adopting a Crimean electronic currency to attract shareholders and prevent penalties.