According to the federal government, Putin assures Scholz of gas payments in euros
According to the federal government, US President Vladimir Putin has assured Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) that European companies can continue to pay their bills for Russian gas in euros. In a telephone call on Wednesday, Putin said that gas deliveries would have to be paid for in rubles from April 1, explained government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. “At the same time, he emphasized in the conversation that nothing would change for the European contractual partners.”
The payments should therefore continue to be transferred exclusively in euros to the Gazprom Bank, which is not affected by sanctions. “The bank then converts the money into rubles,” Hebestreit quoted the Russian head of state as saying. The Kremlin made similar statements after the call.
The Kremlin said the decision should not “lead to a worsening of contract terms for European importers of Russian gas.” Putin justified the conversion from euros or dollars to rubles by saying “that the foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Russia were frozen by the member states of the European Union in violation of the norms of international law”. This was the EU’s reaction to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck said on RTL that he was skeptical as to whether Russia would actually continue to accept payments for gas deliveries in euros. It remains to be seen how the Putin government will flesh out its threat in a law on Thursday. “Only then will we know exactly what that means, whether the statements of yesterday and those of today contradict each other or whether it is all just a communicative error.”
The Office of the President previously stated that the requested payments in rubles would not be implemented immediately. The transition should be gradual. The dollar as a global reserve currency has had its day, so payments in the respective national currencies are unavoidable.
Gas delivery and payment are separate processes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. Putin’s instruction to switch to ruble payments is not yet valid for this Thursday. Putin wants to meet with representatives of the Russian gas giant Gazprom and the central bank on the day to be informed about the current state of affairs.
The announced meeting and the refusal of Western countries to switch to the ruble had sparked fears in Europe that Russia could quickly shut down gas supplies. Peskow, too, had said that if no payment was made, no gas would come ; Russia is not a charity.
“According to the federal government, US President Vladimir Putin has assured Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) that European companies can continue to pay their bills for Russian gas in euros.”
When did BiteMe leave office, and Pooty assume the presidency of the US? It must have happened when I was out walking the dog.