Russia’s busiest St. Petersburg’s Parkovo Airport is accepting a digital ruble in parking with plans to expand the range of services that can be paid with national coins.
Payments for the first digital ruble of airline hubs are ahead of the gradually introduced digital currencies issued in states, which are expected to begin a year from now.
Russia pays for parking with digital rubles
Pulkovo has become the first Russian airport to integrate digital rubles as a payment method, Ria Novosti News Agency reported Monday, citing Northern Capital Gateway, the company that operates air transport facilities.
Visitors used their smartphones to scan QR codes and mobile banking apps from the VTB bank, which co-owns the consortium, to confirm the transaction. Receipts were then issued through the POS terminal, with detailed information on the operator’s press service.
Customers paid parking fees at Parkovo, the second busiest airport in the Russian Federation, following Sremetyevo International Airport in Moscow.
The managing company has made it clear that it intends to apply the new payment options to other services, allowing travelers to pay for, for example, in the digital ruble of a business lounge or “fast track” service.
Olga Corockin, Chief Financial Officer of Northern Capital Gateway, explained in detail.
“We are confident that over time the digital rubles will become a common payment method, but today it was St. Petersburg Airport that implemented the technology for passengers.”
Russia is promoting digital currency
The digital ruble has been developed for quite some time before Russian President Vladimir Putin urged its mass adoption efforts this year.
The Bank of Russia began work on the Central Bank’s Digital Currency (CBDC) in 2021, and the necessary laws came into effect in 2023. The trial began later that year.
Russian authorities initially planned to make it available to everyone in July 2025, but Russia’s major financial regulators proposed postponing the implementation until next year.
In a speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, President Putin pointed out that the tests have been ongoing for nearly two years and is asking the Russian government and financial authorities to speed up all steps and determine the date of the launch.
Shortly afterwards, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) published an updated schedule for the phased implementation of CBDC from September 1, 2026. The timetable was later approved by the Russian Parliament.
Ongoing trials within the pilot project, which began in August 2023, involve a limited number of participants, including banks, businesses and individuals.
Installing a digital ruble transaction
By June 2025, when the new launch date was announced, the Digital Ruble transaction reached 100,000 people, as reported previously by Cryptopolitan.
In August, the Russian majority state-owned VTB and the Russian real estate developer called PIK used digital rubles to seal off their first real estate transaction.
A client of a bank, formerly known as Vneshtorgbank, used Russian digital currency to purchase an apartment in the Russian capital, Novo Ochakovo housing complex.
To carry out the transaction, both the real estate developer and its client had to open a digital ruble account on the CBR via VTB’s online platform and obtain regulatory approval.
While promoting its own digital currency, Russia has taken steps to curb the use of crypto. The series of new laws and legislative reforms cover peer-to-peer exchanges and other transactions, including decentralized digital money.
At the end of August, Russian media revealed that the Russian Bank intends to impose strict requirements on banks that carry out crypto-related operations to mitigate the associated risks.
A new bill, introduced by the Russian government, seeks to punish companies accepting cryptocurrency payments that were banned from the “digital financial assets” law in 2021.
Therefore, despite Russian companies using crypto to avoid international sanctions in foreign trade, the ruble, including its latest digital variant, could remain the only fiat currency in the country.
