EU-Russia Sanctions: How to Get Paid?

Arne Mielken
Sep 22, 2025
5 min read

🔒Sanctions hit banks, reserves, and payments. Before signing contracts with Russia, check if you’ll ever see your money.

Getting paid under EU sanctions isn’t straightforward. Russia uses rubles, “friendly” currencies, and alternative payment circuits. Know the risks before you sign.

Receiving payment may be harder than you think

The EU has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia that go far beyond blocking specific companies. The measures strike at the heart of Russia’s financial system: its Central Bank, major commercial banks, and its access to international capital markets.

For businesses, the key issue isn’t only compliance. It’s cash flow. A signed contract is worthless if payment can’t be made. Below we set out the main restrictions, Russia’s workarounds, and what companies should consider before signing agreements with Russian partners.

Key Restrictions

1. SWIFT Ban

What happened: Seven Russian and three Belarussian banks have been cut off from SWIFT, the global messaging system for international payments.

Impact: Transfers that relied on SWIFT now face significant delays, rerouting, or outright failure. Even if an alternative channel exists, costs rise and trust is thin.

Reality check: Workarounds through smaller banks still connected to SWIFT are temporary at best. Each additional sanction package risks shutting down those routes.

2. Central Bank Asset Freeze

What happened: The EU, US, UK, and allies froze more than half of Russia’s $643 billion in foreign reserves.

Impact: Russia cannot use these assets to stabilize the ruble, supply liquidity, or support banks processing foreign payments.

Reality check: Even if a Russian buyer wants to pay in euros or dollars, liquidity is limited, and transactions can be blocked mid-route by intermediary banks.

3. Currency and Cash Controls

What happened: The EU banned the sale, supply, and transfer of euro banknotes to Russia. International sanctions also make selling Russia’s gold stockpile extremely difficult.

Impact: Access to hard currency is restricted. Russian entities may try to settle in rubles or alternative currencies.

Reality check: Ruble payments expose foreign firms to FX volatility and conversion risk. Converting rubles into usable hard currency outside Russia is often impractical.

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How Russian businesses now pay foreign partners

A recent study mapped three main circuits Russian companies use to settle cross-border deals:

Transactions in rubles and “friendly” currencies
Russia leans heavily on China, Iran, Turkey, CIS states, and others. By late 2024, over 80% of Russian foreign trade was conducted in rubles or “friendly” currencies like the Chinese yuan (CNY). With China, that share hit 95%.
The practical tools here are “mirror” and “mixer” schemes. A Chinese importer may hold a ruble account in a Russian bank, while the Russian exporter is credited in rubles. Meanwhile, related accounts in China handle the CNY side. Western regulators can’t easily trace these internal flows. “Mixers” complicate things further by blending Russian-linked transfers with unrelated ones, hiding the trail.
The problem is the “tail”—imbalances in ruble or yuan flows that must eventually be settled in third-country currencies, often dollars or euros, leaving traces regulators can spot.
China’s VTB-Shanghai branch became a bottleneck for this system. By late 2024, its commission fees for transfers peaked at 4–10%, reflecting both demand and pressure on Chinese banks. The situation has since stabilized, but costs remain higher than pre-war.
Transactions in “hostile” currencies via intermediaries
Some deals still happen in dollars and euros, especially with goods not directly sanctioned. But Western banks’ compliance departments often block payments, even when technically legal. Workarounds include:
- Specialized intermediaries with accounts across multiple jurisdictions, receiving Russian export revenues abroad and paying imports on Russia’s behalf.
- Informal FX markets, where Russian exporters sell hard currency abroad to trusted importers, bypassing banks entirely. Rates often include hefty surcharges over the official Central Bank rate.
Alternative methods outside the banking system
- Cryptocurrency, mainly stablecoins like USDT, has become a fast and relatively cheap channel, especially for consumer goods and IT services.
- Money transfer and hawala-style systems, often run out of CIS states, Turkey, or the Gulf, allow discreet cash flows.
- Third-party obligations, such as promissory notes or even unreported gold receipts, are used in niche high-value trades.

What this means for European businesses

For EU exporters, the main issue is uncertainty of payment. Even if your deal is lawful under EU rules, the Russian counterparty may be unable to transfer funds in a way your bank accepts. The reliance on ruble–yuan circuits or crypto “mixers” shows how far Russian trade has drifted from transparent, regulated systems.

Compliance risks are also growing. Western authorities increasingly rely on banks’ internal compliance teams to police transactions. These teams often take a conservative approach, blocking anything remotely tied to Russia. As a result, even humanitarian or exempted goods may run into delays or outright refusals of payment.

The trajectory ahead

The study suggests two trends will shape the future:

Expansion of the ruble-based system, anchored in China, with VTB branches opening in Iran and beyond.
Fragmented “mirror” circuits using CNY, dirhams, liras, and crypto, constantly adapting to new restrictions. Costs for these may stay high, but Russian firms now accept them as the price of doing business.

For EU exporters, the reality is simple: if your Russian partner says “don’t worry, we’ll pay you,” ask how. If their answer involves ruble–yuan accounts, third-country intermediaries, or crypto, you’re looking at higher costs, slower transfers, and bigger compliance risks.

Practical Risks for Businesses

Blocked PaymentsEven lawful transfers may be frozen in transit if routed through sanctioned or cautious intermediary banks.
Liquidity ShortagesRuble or yuan settlements depend on Russia’s access to currency and bank capacity. Shortages translate into delays or partial payments.
Currency VolatilityPayments in rubles expose exporters to sharp FX swings. Hedging costs are high and conversion options are narrowing.
Compliance and Reputational RiskEven indirect exposure to Russian “mirror” schemes or crypto transfers can raise red flags with banks and regulators.

What Companies Should Do

Check the Counterparty BankEnsure it is not SWIFT-excluded or sanctioned. If payments rely on a third-country bank, verify that institution’s exposure and risk appetite.
Map the Payment ChainIdentify all intermediary banks and payment channels. A transfer may fail if it passes through a jurisdiction enforcing sanctions.
Scrutinize the CurrencyIf offered rubles, yuan, or crypto, confirm how you’ll convert those into usable hard currency—and at what cost.
Reinforce Contract ClausesUse advance payments, escrow, or offshore accounts to reduce non-payment risk. Address scenarios of delay, partial payment, or conversion losses.
Monitor Sanctions in Real TimeNew EU packages regularly change the rules. A viable route today could be illegal or blocked tomorrow.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The EU-Russia sanctions regime is designed to cut financial lifelines. As a result, the central risk in any Russia-linked trade is no longer whether the contract is legal, but whether payment is even possible.

Russian businesses are adapting with ruble–yuan “mirror” schemes, crypto transfers, and intermediaries. But each comes with costs, volatility, and compliance exposure.

Our recommendation

Before entering any agreement, conduct both a sanctions compliance check and a payment feasibility review. Ask two questions:

Is this legal?
Is this payable?

If you can’t answer “yes” to both, think carefully before signing.