Three years ago, in October 2023, President Putin signed a decree obliging major Russian exporters to sell foreign exchange earnings on the domestic market. The reason was the volatility of the ruble and the need to stabilize the exchange rate. The measure worked: the ruble strengthened, the volume of currency sales increased.
The mechanism operated in several stages. Initially, exporters were required to deposit at least 40% of foreign exchange earnings under foreign trade contracts to accounts with authorized banks and sell at least 90% of the credited amount on the domestic market. In August 2025, the government reset the standards — formally, the requirement remained, but the numbers became zero. On May 22, 2025, the norm was extended by a government decree until April 30, 2026. That deadline expired today.
The decree covered exporters from six industries: fuel and energy complex, ferrous metallurgy, non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical industry, forestry and grain farming. These are the companies that form the main part of the Russian export stream.
It is still unknown what will happen next. There were no official statements about the extension, cancellation or transformation of the mechanism at the time of publication. With zero standards since August 2025, the decree no longer had practical significance for most exporters, but the legal mechanism itself remained as a rapid response tool.
For businesses conducting export operations, it is now important to monitor the position of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance. If the standards remain zero or the mechanism is abolished, there will be fewer restrictions on holding currency abroad. If extended, the working conditions for export contracts will remain the same.
