What Kommersant, RBC, Vedomosti, Interfax and Forbes Russia report — selected and summarized in English every morning, for readers who don't read Russian. Analysis-grade sourcing, no wire rehash. Data context in the Russia Terminal. Regional wires: Central Asia · Caucasus.
Coverage on 31 August and 1 September was dominated by the Central Bank's new three-year policy scenarios, a fuel market so tight that the government has legalised sub-Euro-5 sales, a collapse in wheat shipments, and the simultaneous start of two new payment rails: the digital ruble and bank-intermediated crypto settlement for foreign trade.
The Bank of Russia released the draft Monetary Policy Guidelines for 2027–2029 on 31 August, leaving its July baseline unchanged and adding three alternative paths. In the pro-inflationary scenario, where the structural primary federal deficit fails to converge to zero by 2029, the average key rate would be 13–15% in 2027 and 11–12% in 2028, some 2.5 and 3 percentage points above the July baseline, with 2027 inflation at 4.5–5.5% against 4% in the baseline and GDP growth of 1–2% against 1.5–2.5%. The disinflationary scenario, built on faster total factor productivity growth, would allow the average key rate to fall to 9–11% from the current 14%. Deputy Governor Alexei Zabotkin called the baseline "much more likely" and said the next step comes in October, after the government submits the three-year budget to the Duma in late September.
Source: Kommersant, 31 Aug 2026
From 1 September 2026 to 30 June 2027, petrol and diesel meeting Euro-2, Euro-3, Euro-4 and Euro-5 standards may be sold at Russian filling stations, the Energy Ministry said. Fuel below Euro-5 carries higher sulphur content; until now refineries could supply it only under internal contracts. The ministry framed the temporary decree as a way to stabilise supply and reduce the risk of shortages of individual fuel grades, with stations still required to display the class sold. The measure follows a cabinet decision on 29 August extending the export ban on diesel, marine fuel and gasoils to 30 September; the full petrol export ban runs to 31 January 2027. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has attributed the shortage to drone strikes on refineries and acknowledged on 19 August that a "second phase" of market tension had begun.
Source: Forbes, 31 Aug 2026
Russian wheat exports in September may fall to 1.8–2.3 million tonnes, down 52.1–62.5% year-on-year, according to a SovEcon forecast cited by Kommersant. September 2025 shipments were 4.8 million tonnes and the five-year September average is 4.9 million tonnes; SovEcon calls the 2026 figure the lowest since 2010. Exports began falling in the second half of July after terminals at Black Sea and Azov ports were put out of service: in early August grain moved through eight Russian ports against 29 a year earlier, according to Rexoft Consulting. The blockage is pushing domestic prices down, with third-class wheat in European Russia at 13,455 rubles per tonne (about $156) on 31 July, 17.8% lower year-on-year, and some farmers selling at 8,000–9,000 rubles against SovEcon's 10,000-ruble break-even level.
Source: Forbes, 31 Aug 2026
Russia began the large-scale rollout of the digital ruble on 1 September, six years after the Central Bank first floated the idea and a year later than originally planned. From today the largest banks and their corporate clients with annual revenue above 120 million rubles (about $1.4 million) must accept it; banks with a universal licence and merchants above 30 million rubles follow on 1 September 2027, and basic-licence banks and merchants with 20–30 million rubles on 1 September 2028. A universal payment QR code launched the same day, operated by the National Payment Card System, which the Central Bank owns. Individuals may hold one account on the Central Bank platform and top it up by up to 300,000 rubles a month; businesses face no top-up cap, pay no fees until the end of 2026, and move to tariffs the regulator says will be the lowest on the payments market from 2027. No interest accrues on balances and the Central Bank does not lend in digital rubles.
Source: Interfax, 1 Sep 2026
Sberbank has launched cross-border cryptocurrency payments for corporate clients engaged in foreign trade, First Deputy Chairman Alexander Vedyakhin said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum. There is no minimum transfer size, the average transaction cost is 0.3%, wallet-to-wallet settlement takes a couple of minutes, and documentation for banks and currency control is generated automatically during the transaction. The launch coincides with the entry into force on 1 September of the law on digital currencies and digital rights, which builds a full regulatory framework covering retail purchases through licensed intermediaries, exchange trading, clearing and digital depositories. Exporters and importers may use crypto for cross-border settlement without volume restrictions, either through intermediaries or directly, giving foreign counterparties a bank-intermediated alternative to correspondent banking.
Source: Interfax, 1 Sep 2026