A New Year\'s Day article from the Financial Times reported positive comments on cryptocurrency from President Putin\'s economic adviser, Sergei Glazyev, made at a recent government meeting. Discussing the vexed question of a national digital currency, Glazyev claimed that a proposed \'CryptoRouble\' might go some way to alleviating the pressure imposed on the Russian economy by Western sanctions.

A Russian CryptoRouble would in essence be a digital form of the rouble, a cryptocurrency issued by the national government to be treated as legal tender. Glazyev indicated that while a CryptoRouble would have an equivalent value to the fiat rouble, its circulation might be restricted in such a way as to allow it to be tracked by the Kremlin.

The idea has been in circulation for some time, but as yet there is no official government stance on if, or when, such a currency would be issued.

President Putin made various moves in 2017 towards investigating the potential for a Russian digital currency, including a meeting with Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum. He also suggested mandating new regulations surrounding cryptocurrencies, but other government officials maintain a negative stance. 

In a previous meeting to discuss possible cryptocurrency legislation, the Russian news agency, TASS, reported two leading financial officials as stating that they saw no need for a national digital currency issue.