PROSPECTS OF INTERNATIONALISATION OF RUSSIAN ROUBLE IN MODERN GEOPOLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES

This article analyses possibility of expanding an international usage of Russian currency in the circumstances of unprecedented sanctions, which were imposed with the purpose to break Russia's external trade relations and to isolate this country from the global financial system. Author comes to conclusion that dominance of the non-cash money in the international transactions has resulted in the full dependence of all modern currencies on specially created settlement systems. Nowadays currencies can circulate internationally only within such systems. Therefore any national currency is exposed to potential restrictions by the country, which issues dominant global currency (i.e. the US Dollar). This fact makes it very difficult to expand internationalisation of the Rouble by traditional methods. In the modern circumstances the key prerequisite of such expansion is existence of the Rouble settlement and payment systems, which can operate independently of the foreign ones. Such systems were created well before 2022 and technically can facilitate transactions with the Rouble worldwide. However, the problem is that potential foreign counterparts are very cautious to work with any Russian systems due to a risk of the secondary sanctions by the USA. Also widely publicised the Russian government requirement that European importers must pay for Russian gas in Roubles did not help to widen internationalization of Russian currency, as this was Rouble payment in name only, but not in truth. To solve this problem it is suggested to use combined methods: i.e. to extend independent Russian settlement & payment infrastructure worldwide through formal and informal agreements; to broaden the usage of non-cash money and quasimoney; to issue financial instruments, which can circulate worldwide, but outside the settlement infrastructure, which is controlled by the western countries.