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Putin said last week that he would only sell gas to enemy countries if they paid in rubles in response to sanctions imposed by the EU and the United States.
Russian President Vladimir Putin informed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday that European countries will be able to continue paying for the supply of Russian gas in euros, as explained by a spokesman for the German government. The representative of the Executive, Steffen Hebestreit, reported in a statement that Scholz and Putin spoke by phone at the latter’s initiative to discuss the issue of payments from April 1.
The Russian leader had announced a week ago that “hostile countries” should assume payment for energy from Russia in rubles, instead of euros or dollars. However, Putin “stressed in the conversation that for the partners of European contract will not change anything,” Hebestreit announced this afternoon.
“Payments will continue to be made in euros and will be transferred as usual to Gazprom’s bank, which is not affected by the sanctions,” he added, explaining that the entity will then convert them to rubles.
Hours earlier, the Kremlin had reported that Putin had explained to Scholz and the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, the reasons why Russia had decided to charge for its gas in rubles and assured that the measure would not affect contracts with European companies.
most reluctant countries
“The change of the payment mechanism is implemented because, in violation of the norms of international law, the EU member countries froze the Bank of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves“, explained the Russian presidency when reviewing the telephone conversation this Wednesday between Putin and Scholz.
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According to the Russian presidency, Putin assured the German leader that this decision “will not worsen the conditions established in the contracts for European companies importing Russian gas.”
Germany has been one of the most reluctant countries to include the energy sector in the sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine, andbecause 55% of the gas it consumes comes from this country. The EU rejected Russia’s demand to charge for its gas in rubles, saying it was a violation of existing contracts.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.