MOSCOW

Russia is considering accepting local currencies or Bitcoin as payment for its oil and gas exports, an official said Thursday.

Pavel Zavalny, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy, said that when it comes to “friendly countries” such as Turkiye and China, Russia is willing to be more flexible with payment options.

“We have been proposing to China for a long time to switch to settlements in national currencies for rubles and yuan. With Turkiye, it will be lira and rubles,” he said. “You can also trade Bitcoins.”

He added that "friendly countries" can also buy natural gas with gold.

Touching on Moscow’s decision to demand that "unfriendly countries" use rubles to buy Russian oil and gas, he said it is now problematic to sell natural gas in dollars or euros due to sanctions.

Russia's war on Ukraine, which began Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.

*Writing by Gokhan Ergocun from Istanbul