Before making his decision, Vladimir Putin also spoke to Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
Moscow Russian President Vladimir Putin says he has signed a decree requiring foreign buyers of Russian gas to have an account with Gazprombank. Contracts would be stopped if payments were not made through this system, Putin said on Thursday.
Putin had already decreed last week that states that are “unfriendly” towards Russia – including Germany and all other EU countries – will have to pay in rubles for gas deliveries in future. This Thursday he wanted to meet with representatives of the gas giant Gazprom and the Russian central bank to set the exact procedure in motion. Apparently that has now happened.
But the effects remain unclear. In telephone calls with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Putin apparently agreed to continue accepting euro payments. This was confirmed by Draghi and a spokesman for the chancellor on Wednesday.
Putin justified his ruble initiative by saying “that the foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Russia were frozen by the member states of the European Union in violation of the norms of international law”. This was the EU’s reaction to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Putin had said that payments in euros and dollars were now of no value to the country.
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However, the group of G7 economic powerhouses, including Germany and the European Union as a whole, reject payments in rubles for gas. Corresponding demands are “a unilateral and clear breach of the existing contracts,” said Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck at the beginning of the week after a meeting of the G7 energy ministers. Germany currently chairs the group, which also includes France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the US and the UK.
Customers should pay their bills in rubles for natural gas deliveries. But whether it will become compulsory remains to be seen.
(Photo: ZB)
More: All news about the Ukraine war in the live blog