Russia’s largest telecom operators and online marketplaces are getting ready to accept the digital ruble, which a first group of merchants must take from September 1, 2026. MTS, Rostelecom, MegaFon, Wildberries, and Ozon outlined their plans to the business daily Vedomosti, which reported them on August 26, 2026. The requirement comes from Federal Law No. 248-FZ, passed in July 2025, and applies to the Bank of Russia’s central bank digital currency, which has been in pilot since August 2023.
MTS will process digital ruble payments through its MTS Pay module. The option will appear in the My MTS app and on the operator’s online store, with a checkout flow that MTS describes as similar to Russia’s existing Faster Payments System. Rostelecom will start with one-off payments on its website and add recurring payments and automatic top-ups once the central bank’s platform supports them. MegaFon presents the digital ruble as an additional payment method. Wildberries and Ozon will switch the service on September 1, Ozon in test mode.
The mandate phases in by bank and merchant size through 2028
Outlets with annual revenue under RUB 5 million are exempt. Consumers face no requirement at all. They can open a wallet on their own initiative in their bank’s app, with activation through Gosuslugi, the government services portal.
Wallets sit with the central bank, not the commercial banks
Digital ruble wallets are held on a central platform run by the Bank of Russia. Commercial banks act as access points and do not carry the balances on their own books. That design determines what happens when money moves between an ordinary bank account and a wallet: it is a conversion between two forms of money, not an internal transfer.
| Parameter | Announced value |
|---|---|
| Person-to-person transfers | Free |
| Merchant fee | 0.3% of the transaction |
| Monthly wallet top-up limit | RUB 300,000 per bank |
| Acceptance exemption | Annual revenue under RUB 5 million |
Adoption is being pushed, not pulled
Polls cited in the Russian press in late August 2026 point to strong reluctance. In a June 2025 VTsIOM poll, 51% of respondents said they did not want to try the digital ruble. In a SuperJob survey conducted from December 2025 to January 2026, 10% said they would accept their entire salary in digital rubles. The Bank of Russia subsidizes banks for each salary payment made in digital rubles, a mechanism that makes up for the lack of organic demand.
The timetable has already slipped once. Mass rollout was originally planned for July 2025, then pushed back to September 1, 2026, after talks with market participants and the relevant ministries. The central bank cited the time banks and retailers needed to adapt their systems. Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina said in July 2026 that the preparatory work was complete on the technical side.
The contrast with the eurozone lies less in the technology than in how each launch is being primed. The digital euro is still in its preparation phase, with a first issuance not planned until 2029, and whether merchants should be required to accept it is still being debated in the EU legislative process. Russia has instead set revenue thresholds and fixed dates. It is counting on merchant acceptance to get the digital ruble off the ground before consumers have adopted it.