3 days. Until then, Russian President Putin wants to allow countries that he classifies as “hostile to comply with his will to only receive payments for gas supplies in rubles. A backlash to the sanctions and the dramatic devaluation of the Russian currency. Putin has instructed the government, the central bank and Gazprom “by March 31 to implement the provisions providing for the use of the ruble to pay for gas supplies,” according to Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman.
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Therefore, it is necessary to implement a number of measures “to change the currency of payment for natural gas deliveries to European Union countries and to other countries that have introduced restrictive measures against citizens of the Russian Federation and Russian legal entities.”
Moscow promises “revenge” for a refusal to pay in rubles. The Kremlin spokesman, Tass reports, is not open about what measures he can take. “These problems should be resolved as they develop.” “But we certainly won’t provide gas for free, that’s for sure. It’s almost impossible to be charitable in our situation,” Peskow said.
The first “no” comes from Eni, according to reports from the Bloomberg agency, through the voice of CEO Claudio Descalzi. “Eni has no rubles. The contracts provide for the payment of fuel in euros and the contracts should be amended to change the terms, he later said, stressing that “Europe should look to Africa for more gas supplies.
The words of the German Economics Minister Robert Habeck are also clear. After an online meeting with G7 energy ministers, he clarified that “the world’s largest economies reject Russian demands to pay for imported gas in rubles.” He then stressed that, given the existing contracts, “payments in rubles are unacceptable.”