“The Russian gas it must be paid in rubles ». As Europe opens up for joint purchases, detailing the narrow steps taken to drastically reduce Russian imports already in anticipation of next winter, Vladimir’s latest downfall Putin it pushes up gas prices on the continent by +34% and 113.74 euros per megawatt hour. The blackmail of the head of Kremlin it is aimed at those countries that Moscow has included in its list of “enemy nations (there are 48, including all EU states, including Italy) and is a response to the unprecedented Western sanctions that have hit Russia since the invasion began of Ukraine, a month ago. Measures, which include freezing the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves, “have destroyed confidence in Moscow,” Putin said, quoted by the state agency Tass. Hence the ban on using foreign exchange for transactions with the state monopoly Gazprom, which will guarantee “the gas volumes and prices stipulated in the contracts” in the long term anyway. But without cashing in more euros, dollars and pounds, which would account for 58%, 39% and 3% of the Russian giant’s overseas sales, respectively, according to a financial prospectus recently cited by Reuters.
The distance
“I decided to implement a number of measures to make enemy countries pay for our gas supplies in rubles,” Putin said during a televised meeting, ordering the government and central bank to implement the changes as soon as possible. This would essentially mean an adjustment of the payment item in existing supply contracts. The Kremlin’s move has revived the Russian currency, which although still very weak has regained value following Putin’s announcement on the Moscow Stock Exchange (which, after the bonds, is also resuming negotiations on shares today): the exchange rate between the euro and the ruble quickly rose from 112 to 107 while the dollar slipped below 100. “Being paid in rubles would be a way to circumvent the sanctions. My opinion is that we will continue to pay in euros, Francesco Giavazzi, the Prime Minister’s economic adviser, commented yesterday. Mario Draghi intervened during a Bloomberg forum. Germany was the first to react to the latest act of the economic and financial war with Moscow: It is a breach of contract,” said Economics Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, “we will discuss with our European partners how we will react”.
The summit
The threats of to fly However, European leaders don’t seem too worried. On the eve of the Summit of the TwentySeven, which begins today in Brussels, with the extraordinary attendance of US President Joe biden, an EU diplomatic source said that “it cannot be ruled out” that the issue will be touched upon by leaders, but the decision will not be the spark for new sanctions. In fact, the watchword in Brussels at the moment is to wait and see how possible gaps in the packages already approved can be filled (for example by separating the surviving banks from Swift); but Biden will return to appeal to transatlantic unity and invite allies to follow Washington in halting (at least) oil, which may be replaced with Russian supplies to complement it lots of gasoline on board the tanker.
The energy differentiation plans will be the protagonists today and tomorrow, with EU governments invited to discuss the dossier after yesterday Commission unveiled a range of options to keep “high and volatile gas prices in check, including joint purchasing and a special task force to negotiate with manufacturers, as was the case with Covid vaccines: “We need to keep our weight and start buying gas together,” said EU Executive President Ursula von der Leyen. On the table but the road is uphill The Northern European Opposition also the hypothesis of a cap on the wholesale gas price. On the other hand, the commitment to fill the gas stocks to 80% by November 1st (90% from next year) has been confirmed in order to arrive prepared for the winter: the operators of the storage facilities, which are considered essential infrastructures, will have to do a Obtain EU certification, otherwise Brussels can also carry out an expropriation. in summary, Gazprom which owns 10% of the underground reserves on the continent is warned. Meanwhile, Moscow yesterday decided to expel some American diplomats after Washington expelled 12 Russian envoys accredited to the Russian mission to the United Nations in New York. And the draft Russian resolution on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine was rejected in the UN Security Council: only Russia and China voted in favor of the text, all other 13 members abstained.
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