On 26 October 2011, the working meeting between the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Sergiy Arbuzov, Acting Finance Minister of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov, the senior management of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and Open Joint Stock Company Gazprom took place during the official visit of the Ukrainian delegation to the Russian Federation.

In the course of the meeting, the sides agreed on the possibility of making payments for Russian natural gas, inter alia, in rubles.

The agreements reached during the meeting give Ukraine some space for manoeuvring when paying for imports, in particular, for natural gas, and will make it possible to avoid fluctuations in the foreign exchange market in the event of financial settlements with the entities of the Russian Federation.

The National Bank of Ukraine intends to further pursue a currency diversification in settling accounts with Ukraine’s main trading partners, including the European Union Member States, Russian Federation, China and others.