According to Foresight News, Bitcoin.com reported that the head of the Russian Central Bank said that Russia plans to launch international cryptocurrency payments by the end of this year to counter Western sanctions. The central bank is ready to take flexible measures and is already discussing the conditions of this move with ministries, agencies and companies. In addition, the Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) has preliminarily approved legislation to allow companies to use cryptocurrencies for international payments.