Russia announces the latest on gas payments in rubles

On April 26, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the energy group Gazprom is working to implement a new payment mechanism, implementing President Vladimir Putin’s decree requiring customers to buy goods. Russian gas payable in rubles.

RT quoted spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters: “All gas transactions are done through Gazpromso the consortium will publish information on the outcome of the negotiations.”

According to Peskov, payments for gas purchases under the new policy are expected to be made from May.

Last month, President Putin demanded that “unfriendly” countries pay for Russian gas in rubles. To do this, they will need to open an account at Gazprombank and make payments in USD or euros, which will then be converted to rubles. Mr. Putin warned that failure to comply with the currency conversion rule meant that the countries involved risked losing Russian gas supplies.

A source familiar with the negotiations of the gas buyers told Reuters that it was not yet clear how the plan would be implemented, but the parties that had reached an agreement would continue to consider payment methods. new.

Some Russian gas buyers have signaled that they may agree to Moscow’s demands. On April 25, Uniper, Germany’s major Russian gas importer, said it could pay for future supplies without violating Western sanctions.

While, Russia stops supplying gas to Poland and Bulgaria from April 27 because these two countries refused to pay in rubles. Poland’s state energy group PGNiG and the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy have both confirmed that Gazprom will stop supplying gas under the contract through the Yamal-Europe pipeline as of April 27. The 4,000km pipeline transports gas from the Yamal peninsula and western Siberia to Germany and Poland via Belarus.

Poland imports 45% of Russian gas, and Bulgaria imports 90% of Russian gas.

In another development, Russia is moving closer to the gold standard, demanding payment of goods is fixed by the content of gold. Earlier in April, the Central Bank of Russia announced a fixed price for the purchase of gold in rubles, valuing 5,000 rubles ($66.84) per gram of gold.