Nicolas Maduro, the President of Venezuela, several months ago announced the release of the national cryptocurrency El Petro, which was supposed to give countries under sanctions a chance to receive financial support. The asset sales were launched on February 20.

There were two Russian citizens in the presidential palace during the launch of the national electronic coin. Denis Druzhkov, founder of Zeus, and Fedor Bogorodsky, director of Aerotrading.

Previously, there was information that Zeus was providing financial support to El Petro, Alexander Ruchiev, a shareholder of the startup and director of the Osnova group, spoke about this. Also, Nicolas Maduro himself confirmed the existence of contractual ties with Russia.

However, Time Magazine provided a link to the head of the State Bank of Russia, who is directly related to cryptocurrencies. The publication writes that Putin’s advisers observed the opening of El Petro, and Vladimir Vladimirovich himself helped with this.

“People close to Putin reported that cryptocurrency would be a way to circumvent sanctions. That’s where the help started.”

Использование криптовалюты для обхода санкций было предложено Сергеем Глазьевым, советником президента России. Январь стал беспокойным месяцем для представителей США, в связи с выпуском национальной валюты Венесуэлы. Они высказали уверенность, что Николасу Мадуро помогает Китай и Россия. Также появилось беспокойство за отсутствие механизмов контроля криптовалют, которые создали благодатную почву для обхода санкций.

Steven Mnuchin, head of the US Treasury, said that EL Petro will not help circumvent sanctions against countries. Even before the currency was released, American citizens were prohibited from financing it. And on Monday, Donald Trump announced a ban on any cryptocurrency transactions carried out with EL Petro.