Russia keeps a list of states it treats as committing unfriendly actions, and Australia is on it. Above 10 million roubles a month, a presidential decree lets a Russian debtor discharge a foreign-currency obligation to a creditor from a listed state in roubles, paying into a special type "C" account in that creditor's name.
A person in Australia expecting money from Russia usually starts by asking what Australia has prohibited. The rule that shapes this corridor most sharply was written in Moscow, it is about Australia, and it turns on a list.
Key Takeaways
- Russian Government Directive No. 430-r of 5 March 2022 approved a list of states committing unfriendly actions, and Australia is on it.
- Presidential Decree No. 95 of the same date lets a Russian debtor discharge a foreign-currency obligation to a creditor from a listed state in roubles, above a monthly threshold, on credits, loans and financial instruments.
- The roubles go into a special account of type "C" opened in the creditor's name at a Russian bank, at the central bank's rate on the day of payment.
- The procedure applies where obligations exceed 10 million roubles in a calendar month, or the foreign-currency equivalent.
- The Bank of Russia's account regime, as set in June 2022, lists what may be debited from such an account, and a transfer abroad is not among them.
The list, and where it came from
On 7 March 2022 the Government of Russia announced that it had approved a list of foreign states and territories committing unfriendly actions towards the Russian Federation, Russian legal entities and Russian citizens. The instrument is Directive No. 430-r, signed on 5 March 2022. The announcement names the states it covers, and the first of them is Australia.
The government's own note explains why the list exists. It was prepared in the framework of the Presidential Decree of 5 March 2022 on the temporary procedure for discharging obligations to certain foreign creditors. The list is not a sanctions programme in its own right. It is a definition that other instruments then use, and it is used in a great many of them. What it does not touch is the messaging and settlement layers a payment needs before any rulebook reaches it.
The Bank of Russia's published explanations put the definition in one line: a friendly state means a state not included in the list approved by Government Directive No. 430-r of 5 March 2022, and an unfriendly state means one that is included.
What the decree does to an obligation
The mechanism the decree sets up is easier to follow if the ordinary case is stated first. A Russian company owes an Australian person money in a foreign currency. Before 2022 it paid in that currency to the person's own bank, along the ordinary correspondent chain any cross-border payment uses.
Under the decree, that debtor may instead ask a Russian bank to open a special rouble account of type "C" in the foreign creditor's name, and pay in the rouble equivalent of what is owed, converted at the central bank's rate on the day of payment. Doing so discharges the obligation. The government's announcement states the arithmetic plainly, and states the boundary: the temporary procedure applies to payments exceeding 10 million roubles a month, or a comparable sum in foreign currency.
The Bank of Russia's explanations state the general rule more narrowly than the government's announcement does, and the difference matters. The announcement speaks of foreign-currency obligations to foreign creditors from listed states. The Bank, setting out the general rule under the decree, names the obligations it is describing: where the aggregate obligations of a debtor in a calendar month exceed 10 million roubles or the foreign-currency equivalent, settlements of residents' obligations on credits, loans and financial instruments to unfriendly foreign creditors are carried out in roubles using type "C" accounts, or by another means where a permission named in the decree has been given.
So this is a rule about lending and securities, above a threshold, rather than about a remittance. A person in Australia expecting a few thousand dollars from a relative is on the wrong side of both limbs of it. A person owed the proceeds of a bond, a loan or a corporate holding is not.
What can be done with the money once it is there
This is the part that decides what the arrangement means for the person named on the account, and the Bank of Russia set it out on 24 June 2022 in a decision of its Board of Directors made under the decree. That decision is the regime as first established. The Board has taken further decisions amending it since, and those pages are served only to visitors the Bank's site accepts, so what follows is the original text rather than a consolidation of it.
Money may be credited to a non-resident's type "C" bank account from residents on the operations the decree covers, from residents discharging obligations under two later decrees on transport and corporate relations, from residents on transactions permitted by the government commission's sub-commission, from other type "C" accounts, and to correct a debit made in error.
Money may be debited from it for a defined set of purposes:
| Permitted debit | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Obligatory payments | Taxes, duties, fees and other payments due under Russian budget law |
| Federal loan bonds | Buying the bonds the finance ministry places at auction, and dealings in them |
| Other type "C" accounts | Transfers to type "C" bank, brokerage, clearing and trading accounts |
| Fees | Commissions to the servicing bank, the broker, the depositary and those connected with securities held in type "C" custody accounts |
| Certain payments to residents | Transfers connected with moving a resident's own securities, and penalties on covered transactions |
| Corrections | Returning money credited to the account in error |
There is no line for paying the creditor. An account exists in the creditor's name, the obligation is discharged, and the balance can be taxed, invested in Russian government debt, moved to another account of the same type, or spent on the fees of holding it. Later Board decisions have changed parts of that regime and could not be read here, so treat the table as the shape of the arrangement rather than as a current account mandate.
Who counts as a person of an unfriendly state
The list names countries; the decrees reach persons. The Bank of Russia's explanations, updated on 16 January 2026, give the definition used across this family of decrees, and it is broader than nationality.
It covers foreign persons connected with the states committing unfriendly actions, including where such persons hold the citizenship of those states, or where their place of registration, their place of predominantly conducting business, or their place of predominantly deriving profit from activity is one of those states. It also covers persons controlled by those foreign persons, wherever they are registered or operate.
The Bank then draws one carve-out, and it is worth reading closely because of what it is about. A Russian legal entity, it concludes, does not fall into the first category regardless of where it predominantly conducts business or derives profit. That answer is given about legal entities, and the question it answers had been asked about them. It says nothing either way about a natural person, and the four connecting factors in the definition are the whole of what the Bank publishes on the point.
What Australia prohibits, which is a different question
For completeness, and because it is the question people ask first, the Australian side is published too. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade sets out what the Russia sanctions framework imposes: restrictions on exporting or supplying certain goods, on importing, purchasing or transporting certain goods, on certain commercial activities, on providing certain services, on making assets available to designated persons and entities and dealing with their assets, and travel bans on declared persons.
Those are the measures. A personal transfer is not one of the listed categories, and the framework is about what may be supplied, dealt in and made available, and to whom. What that means for any particular payment depends on the parties, which is a question for the Australian Sanctions Office's Consolidated List rather than for a general guide.
Where to look next
- Receiving money from Russia - the live rouble to Australian dollar rate page for this corridor.
- AUD to RUB - the convert page for the pair, with the Bank of Russia's own account of the float behind it.
- How international transfers work - the correspondent chain a cross-border payment relies on, which is the layer this corridor lost first.
- What happens to a pegged currency when its rails are cut - the difference between a currency losing value and a currency losing access.
Sources
- The Government approved the list of countries and territories unfriendly to Russia, Government of Russia, 7 March 2022 - Directive No. 430-r of 5 March 2022; the states named, with Australia first; the statement that the directive was prepared in the framework of the Presidential Decree of 5 March 2022 on the temporary procedure for discharging obligations to certain foreign creditors; the mechanism of a special rouble account of type "C" opened at a Russian bank in the foreign creditor's name and paid in roubles at the central bank's rate on the day of payment; and the application of the procedure to payments exceeding 10 million roubles a month or the equivalent. Page in Russian.
- Decision of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia establishing the regime of type "C" accounts, 24 June 2022 - the account regime made under point 5 of Decree No. 95; the accounts and custody accounts it covers; what may be credited to a non-resident's type "C" bank account; and the list of permitted debits, which covers obligatory payments, federal loan bonds placed at the finance ministry's auctions, transfers to other type "C" accounts, commissions, certain transfers to residents and the return of money credited in error. Page in Russian.
- Application of Presidential Decrees establishing measures aimed at ensuring the financial stability of the Russian Federation, Bank of Russia, updated 16 January 2026 - the definition of friendly and unfriendly states by reference to Directive No. 430-r; the general rule that where a debtor's aggregate obligations in a calendar month exceed 10 million roubles or the equivalent, settlement is in roubles through type "C" accounts or under a permission; and the definition of persons of unfriendly foreign states by citizenship, place of registration, place of predominant business and place of predominant profit, with the carve-out drawn for Russian legal entities. Page in Russian.
- Russia sanctions framework, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - the measures Australia imposes under the framework, listed by category, and the designation power for targeted financial sanctions.
General information about Russian instruments that govern money owed to a person in Australia, and about what Australia's own sanctions framework lists. Sanctions and countermeasures change, both directions of this corridor are affected by them, and nothing here is a view on whether any particular payment may lawfully be made or received. Not financial advice, not legal advice, and not a recommendation of any product or institution. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.
Common questions
Is Australia on Russia's unfriendly states list?
Yes. The Government of Russia approved the list of foreign states and territories committing unfriendly actions towards Russia, Russian companies and Russian citizens by Directive No. 430-r of 5 March 2022, and its own announcement of the directive names Australia first among the states included, alongside the European Union member states, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, the United States and others.
What is a type "C" account?
A special rouble account opened at an authorised Russian bank in the name of a creditor from a listed state, under Presidential Decree No. 95 of 5 March 2022. A Russian debtor with a foreign-currency obligation may discharge it by paying the rouble equivalent into that account, converted at the central bank's rate on the day of payment.
Can money in a type "C" account be sent to the creditor?
Not under the account regime the Bank of Russia set on 24 June 2022. A non-resident's type "C" account may be debited for taxes and other obligatory payments, for buying federal loan bonds at the finance ministry's auctions, for transfers to other type "C" accounts, for bank, broker and depositary commissions, for certain transfers to residents, and to return money credited in error. A transfer abroad is not on the list.
Does the rule apply to every payment?
No, and two limits cut it down. The procedure applies where the debtor's obligations exceed 10 million roubles in a calendar month, or the equivalent in foreign currency. And the Bank of Russia, setting out the general rule, names the obligations it covers as those on credits, loans and financial instruments. An ordinary family transfer is none of those and would sit below the threshold in any case.
Do Australia's own sanctions stop a personal transfer from Russia?
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade sets out what the Russia sanctions framework prohibits: certain goods exports and imports, certain commercial activities and services, dealings with the assets of designated persons and entities, and travel bans on declared persons. A personal transfer is not itself a listed measure, though the designated-person rules and the framework as a whole govern who may be dealt with.