Russian President Vladimir Putin warns that Russia will suspend gas supplies to buyers who do not pay in rubles.
31.3. 18:46 • Updated March 31st. 18:49
President of Russia Vladimir Putin has issued a decree requiring unfriendly countries to pay for their gas supplies in rubles from tomorrow.
Russia includes EU countries, such as Finland, as such unfriendly countries.
In practice, Western buyers should open a special account in Gazprombank, a bank of the Russian state-owned gas company, and transfer euros or dollars to this account. The bank would buy the ruble in foreign currency and deposit the ruble in another special account from which payments would be made.
If gas buyers refuse to pay for gas in rubles, Russia will consider it a breach of contract, Putin said.
– If such payments are not made, we consider it a failure to fulfill the buyer’s obligations. No one sells anything for free, and we’re not going to do charity work. That would mean suspending existing agreements, Putin said.
Russia has been seen as trying to strengthen the Western ruble, which has suffered from sanctions. Western countries imposed harsh sanctions on Russia after Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
However, this has not yet reached Russia’s gas supplies to EU countries. About 40 percent of the natural gas used by EU countries comes from Russia.
“In a situation where the Western financial system is being used as a weapon, when companies in these countries refuse to comply with agreements with Russian banks, companies and individuals when funds in dollars and euros are frozen, it makes no sense to use their currencies,” Putin said.
Germany: Payments will continue in Euros and Dollars
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it had informed Putin that Germany had revised its gas supply agreements with Russia and would continue to pay in euros and sometimes dollars.
Scholz said Germany is working to become independent of Russia’s oil and coal supplies this year, but it will take longer to weaken Germany’s dependence on natural gas supplied by Russia.
France and Germany are preparing to cut off Russian gas supplies, the French economy minister said.
– Tomorrow there may be a situation where there is no more Russian gas. We need to be prepared for such scenarios and we are preparing, French Minister for Economic Affairs Bruno Le Maire said after discussing with his German counterpart Robert Habeckin with.
Habeck said he had not yet seen the new decree signed by Putin. He considered it important that the agreements be respected.
– It is important not to send a signal that Putin can blackmail us, Habeck said.
On Wednesday, Germany introduced exceptional measures to control gas imports and storage capacity and called on consumers and industry to reduce gas consumption in the event of a supply disruption in Russia.