Russia demands that western customer countries pay their gas bills in the national currency, the ruble.
(Photo: ZB)
Moscow According to the Kremlin, the conversion of payments for Russian gas supplies to Europe from euros and dollars to rubles will not come into effect on Thursday. Gas delivery and payment are separate processes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
After the announced transition to ruble payments for Russian gas, Moscow is now discussing extending the practice to the export of other commodities and goods. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed such an initiative by parliament leader Vyacheslav Volodin, who suggested that oil and other raw materials should also be settled in rubles. The use of the national currency is inevitable, said Peskov on Wednesday. The prestige of the dollar has “quite faltered”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had declared that the euro and dollar were no longer of any value to Moscow because of the sanctions imposed by the West and the freezing of state reserves. At a meeting with representatives of gas giant Gazprom and the Russian central bank this Thursday, the head of the Kremlin is expected to explain exactly when western customers will be allowed to pay in rubles.
The announced meeting and the refusal of Western countries to switch to the ruble had sparked fears in Europe that Russia could quickly shut down gas supplies. Peskow had also said that if you didn’t pay, there would be no gas; Russia is not a charity.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Russia wants to switch to ruble payments because of Western sanctions in the wake of the war in Ukraine because, according to Putin, the country can no longer do anything with euros and dollars.
Russia: Metals, coal, fertilizer and grain are also to be paid for in rubles
Parliament leader Volodin said other commodities such as metals and coal, as well as goods such as fertilizer and grain should also be paid for in rubles when exported. “European states have all the market tools to pay in rubles,” Volodin wrote on Telegram. “Cooperation should have advantages for both sides.” The ruble, which has recently come under pressure from the sanctions imposed by the West, has appreciated significantly against the dollar and the euro since Putin’s announcement.
Volodin said European states should finally stop looking for reasons why payments in rubles are supposedly not possible – and just pay. Germany, for example, had accused Russia of breaching the contract with regard to the agreed gas deliveries because no ruble payments were planned. “If you want to get gas, then look for rubles,” Volodin wrote.
More: “We have to prepare ourselves in the event of an escalation” – Habeck announces the early warning level of the gas emergency plan