"We have already received 35 thousand rubles from fines through the digital ruble"
The digital ruble is gradually entering the daily lives of Russians: with its help, fines of tens of thousands of rubles have already been paid, including for traffic violations. But the usual cashless payments will not disappear anywhere, Roman Artyukhin, head of the Federal Treasury, assured Izvestia in an interview at SPIEF 2026. According to him, the new technology should make transfers faster and cheaper, and not become a tool for total control: the movement of budget funds is already completely transparent. Why did treasurers start monitoring construction sites, how sanctions changed their work and why the agency remains one of the most non—public in the country - in an interview with Izvestia.
"We are not a political body, but a technological one"
— Roman Evgenievich, you don't come on television that often. You don't seem to be a very public person at all. Is that true?
— Absolutely correct. We are humble accountants, humble treasurers. Our task is to ensure the smooth operation of the system and to make all budget payments. We are not a political body, but rather a technological one.
The Treasury provides a system that must be accurate, reliable, and virtually invisible to most people.
— At the same time, you are currently undergoing serious changes. Treasury is implementing AI and is engaged in digital transformation. What else is changing?
— Now all treasury's activities are carried out through information systems. The most famous of them are the "Electronic Budget", a public procurement platform. And it is obvious that financial relations themselves have become exclusively digital.
Naturally, as a result, huge amounts of data are generated, and thanks to their analysis, it is already possible to solve more complex tasks facing the Treasury. They concern both control and, above all, our main functionality — making budget payments.
In fact, the treasury is the accounting department of the state. It can be said that it is a centralized bank for the country, for all budgets of Russia.
"Non-cash rubles are no less beautiful than a digital ruble"
— Is there no paper money in your business anymore?
- no. Everything is in a non-cash form.
— Then let's talk about the digital ruble. In 2025, the first payment was made in digital rubles. But for an ordinary person, it is still unclear: if he already has money on his card, how does the digital ruble differ from ordinary non-cash funds?
— For us, as individuals, there is almost no difference. There is a bank account, and there are non-cash rubles there. Or you can have a so-called wallet on the digital platform of the Central Bank. There will be money there too.
Next, we are in the wake of the policy pursued by the regulator. As technology develops in the economy — in settlements between citizens, when paying money to the budget — the Treasury, of course, will follow this dynamic.
Already this year, it became possible to pay in digital rubles to the budget system. Tax transfers are not applied yet, but, for example, administrative fines and penalties for traffic violations can already be paid in this way. We have already received 35 thousand rubles from fines through the digital ruble. Citizens are gradually starting to use this tool.
— But a simple viewer may still not understand why this is necessary. There is a regular ruble, which is transferred to the card. Then what is the meaning of the digital ruble? Some believe that such a currency is needed for trade between countries to bypass SWIFT.
— I'll disappoint you a little: these are different areas of relations. There are other tools for trade between countries.
If we talk about the digital ruble, it is part of the national payment system. We have different tools, and this one will be one of them. As I imagine, it can be more convenient, perhaps with lower fees for transfers from citizen to citizen.
For us, as users, this is also an opportunity to provide so-called traceability. But it is important to say here that we still have full control over the movement of budget funds.
For this purpose, mechanisms have been created — treasury and banking support. When a certain legal regime is immediately established during the allocation of funds, it is possible to go as far as understanding the cost: who paid for what, what they bought, and how the final cost of the product, work, or service was formed.
Therefore, the digital ruble is not some kind of super-exclusive instrument. It should be convenient, applicable, and eventually take its place among other payment methods.
At the same time, I would not detract from the dignity of non-cash rubles. Sometimes there is a desire to compare tools and say that one is better than the other. But non-cash rubles are no less wonderful than a digital ruble.
"The question of the export potential of domestic IT products is absolutely correct"
— Treasury has been working on the American Oracle system for many years, and then switched to the Russian database management system. Is this really true?
"That's right. This is our huge project, which we are implementing together with Russian development companies as part of import substitution.
Oracle is a system in which the Treasury has been working for more than ten years, from 2010-2011. Imagine a general ledger that records all transactions without exception. Moreover, we are talking not only about the transfer of funds, but also about any operation related to communicating budget data, making commitments, and making cash payments.
It is a huge world-class system that ensures the work of large organizations, companies and corporations. And in the context of import substitution, we are successfully coping with the transition to domestic solutions. The work is proceeding according to the schedule approved under the leadership of the Ministry of Finance.
It's not just about accounting. These include payments and various industry subsystems of the Treasury. Our developers, programmers, and the Russian companies we work with show a very high level of competence.
— So you didn't leave Oracle because you had security issues?
- no. It's just that the system has reached its stage of development. We were faced with a choice: to continue working at Oracle or switch to domestic solutions. Of course, the choice was in favor of import substitution.
At the same time, there can be no doubt about safety. Everything is protected here. And the question was not that Oracle was transmitting information somewhere. The company simply stopped serving us and interacting with the Russian Federation.
— Will it be possible to export the Russian system later?
— Yes, it is even necessary. There can be quite a lot of consumers. This is already a matter of global competition and the supply of software products that have passed the test of time on large systems and fully meet the requirements of security and uninterrupted payments.
I'm not going to fantasize now, but the question of the export potential of domestic IT products is absolutely correct.
"The treasurer is the keeper of the treasury"
— Now to another topic. In 2025, the Treasury earned about 1.5 trillion rubles for the budget by managing the remaining funds in treasury accounts. This is comparable to the revenues of the largest banks and state corporations. How did it happen that the state "accounting department" started bringing in such money?
— Accounting is only one of the functions of the Treasury. And the key role that everyone knows about: the treasurer is the keeper of the treasury.
We can draw an analogy with the famous parable of talent. Talent is a measure of money. It can be spent — this is not our function, it is handled by the main managers of funds. You can just save it, or you can multiply it. That's what we're doing.
Since 2021, the single treasury account has concentrated the balances of all budgets of the Russian Federation. Literally in the sense of a physical account. And money shouldn't be a dead weight. There are temporarily available funds until they are used. This does not mean "making money" in a bad way. This is impossible. Our budget legislation is one of the most stringent and well-developed.
But there is a difference between receiving funds and paying them out. Our horizon is very short: one day, seven days, 35 days. If the funds were received today, and the planned expenditure will be in a week or two, it is logical to place this money through credit institutions and receive additional income.
— Why didn't you do this before?
— Because there was no single treasury account. Until 2021, there was a model of fiscal federalism: each budget opened its own accounts with the Central Bank. We had about 70 thousand of them.
We have placed funds before, but only in a single federal budget account. Now all the liquidity is concentrated in one system. And this is very important: we also charge interest on account balances in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
One of the instruments is deposits from the largest Russian banks. The other is repo transactions with federal loan bonds, that is, transactions with government securities. There can be no risky investments here.
"The movement of money must end with a result"
— Recently there was information that the Treasury is monitoring the progress of government construction projects through cameras with a neural network. What is such control for?
— We're talking about money, but it doesn't exist by itself. They stand out to achieve the result. To ensure traceability, you need to see not only the movement of funds, but also what is happening in the physical world. Money is paid, for example, for the supply of goods, the performance of work or the provision of services. And then the question arises: was there a delivery? Is the job done?
Indeed, on behalf of the government, together with the Ministry of Construction and the regions, a monitoring system for construction sites was created.
— So the treasury is changing: is it turning from a very conservative structure into something more technologically advanced?
— Remaining a conservative structure, we cannot be offended by the word "accountant" — we are proud of this word. We are conservatives. But the meaning of conservatism lies in continuity, clarity, lack of radicalism, and the ability to calmly and reliably solve tasks.
If the task is related to the observation of physical objects, then why shouldn't the Treasury do this? Because making money must end with a result.
The government and the government staff are calling on us to do this. And now we are evaluating not only budget execution, but also the effectiveness and efficiency of spending funds allocated from the budget system.
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