Venezuela has been the center of global news for all the wrong reasons. From a corrupt and power-hungry government to ongoing riots and a starving population, the country is quickly approaching a political and economic precipice.

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. But in the last three years, its economy has collapsed. In this desperate hour, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro turned to an emerging asset class in an attempt to kickstart the economy and replace the bolívar, has suffered from massive devaluation with an annual inflation of more than 4,000 percent. Named the Petro, the digital currency is allegedly backed by the country’s oil reserves.

However, much like the rest of the country’s government, significant scandal surrounds the Petro. Despite Madura claiming that the initial currency sale raised $735 million, observers have challenged whether any money actually changed hands, and others have questioned if the Petro is even a cryptocurrency.

President Trump issued an executive order in March banning U.S. citizens from purchasing the Venezuelan the Petro in an effort to pressure the Maduro’s government. The crypto-sanctions joined previous U.S. sanctions and a debt-purchase ban on Venezuela.

However, it was uncovered in March that Maduro has turned to the Russians in an effort to avoid the U.S. sanctions. Russia has always been cozy with Maduro’s government. It has helped Venezuela with billions in debts and has been building a significant stake in the country’s petroleum reserves.

Petro’s Russian connection

The first instance of a scandal emerged with the Petro was hinted when Maduro claimed that the cryptocurrency’s pre-sale gathered $5 billion. This was an anomaly as an oil-backed cryptocurrency would be of little interest to foreign cryptocurrency investors and the Venezuelan citizens lack the capital to raise that sort of money.

In a February ceremony, when speaking to the current status of the Petro, Maduro applauded two Russian advisers, Denis Druzhkov and Fyodor Bogorodsky, whom the President thanked for aiding his fight against American “imperialism.” A day later, he dispatched his economy minister to Moscow to brief his Russian finance counterpart.

These suspicions have quickly gained traction as a recent report shows that early investors who registered with the Venezuelan government and downloaded the Petro’s wallet were invited to purchase the cryptocurrency by wiring at least €1,000 ($1,190) to a Venezuelan-owned account at Evrofinance, one of Russia’s largest commercial banks.

Making matters worse, in March the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain gave the Venezuelan government an award for its role “challenging the de-facto powers of the international financial system.”

Yuri Pripachkin, president of the Russian blockchain group denied their involvement in the process but acknowledged that they are keeping a close eye on the cryptocurrency. He even came out in support of the cryptocurrency by saying that Petro is not being used to fund criminal activity.