An EU country agrees to let companies pay for Russian gas in rubles

Request payment for gas in rubles of Russia It took European companies weeks to find a way to respond gas circulation without violating Russian sanctions after the war in Ukraine.

EU officials say companies should continue to pay in euros and that opening bank accounts in rubles would be in violation of regulations. However, the EU has yet to issue strict written guidelines on how companies in the bloc should pay Russian gas giant Gazprom PJSC.

“There is no official statement on what constitutes a sanctions violation. No one ever said anything about paying with ruble whether or not the sanctions are violated. In fact, most gas importers have opened ruble accounts with Gazprom,” Draghi said at a press conference on May 11.

Russia issued a decree in March calling on companies to open two accounts – a euro account and a ruble account. This move was rejected by the EU. Since that order, there have been signals from Gazprom that the Russian gas group is looking to reassure European customers that they can continue to buy gas without violating EU regulations.

Italian Prime Minister Draghi also said that Germany’s top gas importer had paid in Russian rubles. Like Italy, Virtue Russia is a large consumer of Russian gas.

“The fact is the evidence that we saw yesterday, precisely this morning, the largest gas importer in Germany paid in rubles,” – Bloomberg quoted the Italian leader.

A spokesman for Germany’s Uniper SE – Russia’s top gas buyer – said the company has not yet made any payments under the new system because the payment deadline is after May. , Uniper SE is confident it can comply with the sanctions and stay in business. The spokesperson declined to comment on whether Uniper SE will open a Russian ruble account.

At the end of April, the EU published guidance on this issue, but it was considered too vague by companies. The EU has pledged to update the guidelines soon. Many companies have due dates for payments at the end of May, and if they don’t pay in time, they risk being cut off by Russia.

Poland and Bulgaria have had their gas cut off after refusing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new payment terms. Other Russian gas buyers are looking for alternatives.