Armenia has started paying in Russian rubles for the Russian natural gas. The minister of economy of Armenia, Vahan Kerobyan, said this in an interview with RBC.

"As far as I know, the last few payments were made in rubles—but in accordance with the corresponding exchange rate," Kerobyan said.

According to him, the pricing is done in US dollars, but the payment is made in Russian rubles.

"Indeed, Gazprom's contract for the supply of [natural] gas to Armenia enables to pay for gas in rubles for several years now, and this opportunity is being used," Russian Gazprom company's official representative Sergey Kupriyanov told RBC.

Gazprom is the only supplier of natural gas that is sold to the consumers in Armenia.

In an interview with RBC, Kerobyan said that "there is an understanding" that "there is a need to move toward national currencies in the calculations between the EEU members," and "there is progress on the Russian side in that regard."

"The Armenian dram or the Kazakh tenge should not be ruled out as a possible means of payment. We believe that the central banks of the [EEU member] countries should create a corresponding environment for payments to be made in national currencies—with exchange rate visibility or predictability," he added.