The Chamber of Commerce has suspended payment for Italian goods in rubles

The Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce (IRCC) has suspended the system that allowed Russian companies to buy Italian goods for rubles, head of the IRTC Ferdinando Pelazzo told RIA Novosti.

According to him, this happened after an appeal from the Italian Financial Security Committee, in which it expressed concerns that the mechanism would allegedly allow sanctions to be circumvented . The IRTP does not believe that they are violating restrictions, since they work with goods that are not subject to sanctions, the head of the chamber noted.

“Ultimately, we voluntarily paused work on this scheme after receiving this letter. Our lawyers are reviewing the merits of the letter received and studying the contents of the 13th package of sanctions. <…> The thirteenth package in any case tries to punish third countries that help circumvent sanctions, but this does not concern us,” Pelazzo added.

The Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1964 to promote economic, trade, legal and scientific cooperation between Italy and RUSSIA. According to information on the website, 350 companies are members of the IRTI, including Global Standard, Elta and Lavanse JSC. The system for exchanging Italian supplies for rubles has been operating in test mode since February 2024 .

The European Union introduced the 13th package of sanctions against Russia in February of this year, which included 106 individuals and 88 legal entities. Restrictions were also introduced against companies located in third countries and the list of goods prohibited for EXPORT to Russia was expanded.

Russia considers Western sanctions illegal. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned in December that restrictive measures would remain in place for many years.