10 EU countries quietly buy Russian gas with Ruble

Associated RT of Russia quoted the Chief of Staff of the Hungarian Prime Minister Gergely Gulyas as saying, although many European leaders publicly stated they would not buy gas Russia is in ruble, but technically, 10 European countries are still complying with the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hungary and nine other European countries are still buying Russian gas in rubles. (Illustrated image – Photo: Getty Images)

Mr. Gulyas said Hungary opened a euro account at Russia’s Gazprombank, which then switched to ruble payments to suppliers in Russia.

The system allows customers to buy Russian gas from Europe to comply with Putin’s request at the end of March that “unfriendly” countries will switch to paying for gas orders in copper. Russian money.

“There are nine other countries that are using the same payment method as us,” Gulyas said, adding that the leaders of those countries would not open up to the world or their own people about this. .

Mr. Guylas did not specify which European countries, but last weekend Bloomberg According to the source, after the Russian energy group Gazprom “locked the valve” to supply gas to Poland and Bulgaria for refusing to pay in ruble, 10 members of this bloc set up payment accounts. with Gazprombank and 4 countries have actually paid gas to Russia by this method.

Hungary is completely dependent on Russia for all its gas imports. Therefore, this European country has opposed the EU sanctions on this important commodity.

“We can’t impose sanctions but mainly punish ourselves instead of the country we want to punish,” he said, referring to soaring energy prices across Europe.

Although the Budapest government still opposes Russia’s military action in Ukraine, Mr Guylas said it will “continue to buy energy as cheaply as possible” to offset the costs for the Hungarian people.

Earlier, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner confirmed that Germany did not agree to pay for Russian gas in rubles and did not plan to accept Russian requests in the future.

Mr. Lindner said Germany will find ways to become energy independent, reducing its dependence on Russian energy as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Finnish officials admit that without Russian gas, Finland needs to look for alternative sources. However, Finland’s Minister of European Affairs and Ownership Director Tytti Tuppurainen said the country had decided not to accept the payment terms in Russian rubles.

Russia is making a strong move when cutting off gas supplies to two European countries, Poland and Bulgaria. This move is expected to escalate tensions and raise concerns about the possibility of Russia extending the ban to other countries.

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