The world’s largest economies have rejected a request from Russia to pay for the gas they import from the country in rubles, said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck.
Speaking after a teleconference of the G7 energy ministers he chaired, Habeck said the ministers agreed that Russia’s request for a ruble payment was a “unilateral and clear breach of existing contracts.”
The German minister stressed that the signed contracts are still valid. “This means that payment in rubles can not be accepted,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that “hostile countries” to Russia would have to pay for the Russian gas they import in rubles.
The Kremlin move seems to be aimed at strengthening the country’s national currency, which has been hit by Western sanctions on Russia, although economists have expressed doubts about whether the ruble payment could significantly change the situation. .
“Putin’s attempt to divide us is obvious,” Habeck said. “We will not be divided and the G7 countries’ answer is clear: the agreements will be respected.”
“If there is no payment, there will be no gas,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov told PBS on Monday night when asked if Russia would cut off gas exports to Europe if countries refused to pay. with rubles.
“I do not know what will happen when they reject this possibility,” he added.
“So once we have made a final decision, we will look at what can be done. But we will certainly not see it as a charity and we will not send free gas to Western Europe,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
Peshkov said the conditions set by the West, which has imposed economic sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, were “quite hostile” and had brought the situation to a point of “complete war”.
“And we in Russia feel like we are at war because the Western European countries, the USA, Canada, Australia, they are really waging a war against us in trade, the economy, seizing our assets, our resources, raising obstacles to economic “Our relations,” Peshkov explained.
Earlier yesterday, he reiterated that Russia would insist on being paid by European countries in rubles and not in euros, as is the case now.
Following the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, European countries have begun to consider ways to break free from oil and gas imports from Moscow.
France is trying to increase its imports from the Gulf countries, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday.
Moscow, meanwhile, is trying to make up for at least part of its losses due to lower demand from Europe by boosting oil exports to Asia.
“There is a market” in Southeast Asia, in the east, “Peshkov explained yesterday, according to Interfax.
The world market is more diverse than the European one, he added, noting that “of course the European market is of exceptional quality”.
Peshkov reacted to a statement by German Chancellor Olaf Soltz, who said Berlin would move “fast enough” to end Germany’s dependence on energy imports from Russia.
Habeck has already stated that Germany may halve oil imports from Russia by the summer.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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