SIMFEROPOL, April 18. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Republic of Crimea will completely switch to ruble settlements in 2-3 weeks, acting Crimean head Sergey Aksyonov said on Friday.

“The hryvnia circulation deadline should be cut as much as possible. We will try to refuse hryvnia payments in 2-3 weeks,” Aksyonov noted.

He added that tough measures would be applied against those, who would not accept payments in rubles.

Sergey Aksyonov noted that today, about 100 bank offices are operating in the region, while earlier there were more than 800. “This is not enough,” the official stated.

Not a single Ukrainian bank has confirmed in writing its intention to work in Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov said.

“We have not received a single written notification from any Ukrainian bank yet,” he said. “As soon as we do, we shall publish the information.”

Aksyonov continued saying Ukrainian banks were reluctant to enter negotiations, including the region’s biggest Privatbank, which "inflates prices".

On Thursday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin pledged to speed up the transfer of Crimea to ruble transactions. “The banking sphere is one of the more acute and less solved problems. We will try to negotiate with Ukrainian partners. At present, we are still having trouble,” the president noted, answering a question by a Simferopol resident during his live Q&A session.