Top Line
Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to have “uncivilized” countries buy Russian natural gas in rubles, he said at a government meeting on Wednesday, which could worsen the energy crisis in Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he plans to make “unfriendly” countries … [+] Buy Russian gas in rubles. (Photo by Ramil Sitdikov/Sputnik/AFP)
Sputnik / AFP via Getty Images
important facts
Putin demanded a solution within a week from the Russian Central Bank to accept gas payments in rubles and tasked Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom with revised contracts.
Countries that have imposed penalties on Russia for invading Ukraine have become Putin’s latest targets, including the United States, EU member states, the United Kingdom and Japan.
According to the bloc’s Directorate General of Energy, Russia supplies about 40% of the EU’s natural gas.
tangent line
As of January, about 58% of Gazprom’s natural gas sales were in euros, 39% in dollars and 3% in sterling, Reuters reported.
Adverse
A Polish government source told Reuters that forcing it to pay in rubles for Russian gas would be a breach of contract. Bloomberg reported that Italy, one of the biggest buyers of Russian gas, said it would continue to pay in euros.
main background
The Biden administration banned all imports of Russian oil and natural gas on March 8 as part of sanctions for its Ukraine invasion. The European Union is considering banning Russian energy imports amid protests from some countries that rely more heavily on Russian energy than others, including Germany and Hungary. The European Commission has pledged to reduce the bloc’s dependence on Russian gas by two-thirds by the end of the year.
Further reading
Putin says Russia will convert gas sales to ‘unfriendly’ countries into rubles (Reuters)
EU support for Russia’s oil embargo on Ukraine war increased (wall street journal,
