How to pay for AI APIs without a foreign card: DeepSeek, OpenAI, Claude and Gemini from Russia
You cannot pay for the OpenAI or Anthropic API directly from Russia: neither company serves Russia, and their payment systems do not accept Russian bank cards. DeepSeek’s website opens, but its API balance usually cannot be topped up with a Russian card either. The way that works without a foreign card is to top up a RuAPI balance in USDT — bought for rubles via SBP — and call GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini and Qwen with one key. Minimum 5 USDT, no subscription.
Updated:
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
api_key="sk-...",
base_url="https://www.ruapi.ai/v1",
)
resp = client.chat.completions.create(
model="deepseek-flash",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}],
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)After topping up you only change the address and the key: base_url is https://www.ruapi.ai/v1, the key comes from the RuAPI Console. The example uses deepseek-flash; gpt-6.1-sol, claude-sonnet-5-5 and gemini-4-argon are called the same way.
Why paying for an API from Russia is hard
OpenAI and Anthropic do not serve Russia.
Russia is missing from the lists of countries where the OpenAI and Anthropic APIs are available (developers.openai.com/api/docs/supported-countries, anthropic.com/supported-countries, checked 11 Nov 2026). Paying them directly takes an account in a supported country and a foreign bank card — and the account can still be blocked for access from an unsupported region.
Russian cards are not accepted abroad.
Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia in March 2022, so Visa and Mastercard cards issued in Russia do not work abroad, and foreign services do not accept Mir. DeepSeek accepts PayPal, bank cards, Alipay and WeChat Pay (DeepSeek FAQ, checked 21 Oct 2026) — PayPal does not work in Russia, and linking a Russian card to Alipay usually fails.
Middlemen and virtual cards mean fees and risk.
Services that pay foreign subscriptions for you charge a fee, and accounts or keys bought second-hand can stop working at any moment. A virtual foreign card still has to be issued and funded. In RuAPI the balance is your own: you top up in USDT, pay only for the tokens you use, and the remainder does not expire.
How to pay through RuAPI: 3 steps
The first USDT purchase takes 15–30 minutes; after that a top-up takes a couple of minutes.
Sign up and buy USDT for rubles
Sign up at www.ruapi.ai with email, Google, Yandex or Telegram. A new account usually gets $0.05 right away for deepseek-flash, claude-haiku-5-5 and gpt-6-luna, so you can test the connection before paying.
USDT is sold for rubles via SBP or from a Russian card: in Crypto Bot in Telegram and on Bybit P2P. A step-by-step guide with screenshots is at docs.ruapi.ai/en/buy-usdt. Buy a little more than you need: the wallet or exchange charges a withdrawal fee.
Top up your RuAPI balance
Console → “Wallet”: enter an amount from 5 USDT, choose USDT and a network — BEP20, TRC20 or TON (BEP20 is the cheapest when withdrawing from Crypto Bot). The address and exact amount are shown right on the RuAPI site. Send USDT on the same network — the money is credited automatically, usually within a few minutes. USDC and the Polygon network are accepted too. With a foreign bank card (Visa / Mastercard) you can skip the USDT step: choose card payment and the balance usually updates within a minute.
Create a key and plug it in
Console → “API keys” → “Create key”. In your app replace the API address with https://www.ruapi.ai/v1 (for Claude Code and other Anthropic-API apps: https://www.ruapi.ai) and paste the key. The “Connect an app” window has ready settings for popular tools.
How to buy USDT: docs.ruapi.ai/en/buy-usdt · top-ups and networks: docs.ruapi.ai/en/topup · refunds: docs.ruapi.ai/en/legal/refund
Paying in RuAPI at a glance
How to pay
USDT: BEP20, TRC20, TON, Polygon
USDC
Visa / Mastercard from foreign banks
How much
from 5 USDT
no subscription or monthly fee
the balance does not expire
What you get
one key: GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, Qwen
https://www.ruapi.ai/v1
a spending log for every request
What the models cost after you top up
In US dollars per 1M tokens, as on the pricing page. Only the tokens your requests use are deducted.
| model | input $/M | output $/M |
|---|---|---|
| gpt-6.1-sol | $2.40 cache read $0.12 >272K: $4.80 | $12.00 >272K: $18.00 |
| gpt-6-luna | $0.12 cache read $0.0120 >272K: $0.24 | $0.60 >272K: $0.90 |
| claude-sonnet-5-5 | $2.40 cache read $0.12 | $12.00 |
| claude-haiku-5-5 | $0.12 cache read $0.0120 >100K: $0.60 | $0.60 >100K: $3.00 |
| gemini-4-argon | $2.40 cache read $0.12 | $12.00 |
| deepseek-v4-pro | $1.58 cache read $0.0600 | $4.75 |
| deepseek-flash | $0.17 cache read $0.0120 | $1.44 |
| qwen3.8-flash | $0.14 cache read $0.0288 | $0.49 |
Input is the price of input tokens, output of the model’s reply. By our estimate, a request with 2K tokens in and 1K tokens out costs about $0.002 on deepseek-flash and about $0.017 on claude-sonnet-5-5, so 5 USDT covers thousands of requests to the cheaper models. Your account’s prices may be lower.
The grey “>272K” row is the vendor’s long-prompt rate: if the prompt is over the threshold, the whole request is billed at that rate.
Pay the provider directly or through RuAPI
| RuAPI | Directly with OpenAI / Anthropic | |
|---|---|---|
| Access from Russia | Works without a VPN | Russia is not on the supported-country list |
| How to pay | USDT / USDC from 5 USDT, foreign bank cards | A foreign bank card only |
| Models | GPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen with one key | One company’s models only |
| Price | As on the RuAPI pricing page: only for the tokens you use, no subscription | Provider prices; you need a separate balance with each company |
If you have an account in a supported country and a foreign bank card, you can pay the provider directly. RuAPI is for those who do not, or who need several companies’ models on one balance. RuAPI is an independent API gateway, not an official partner of OpenAI or Anthropic.