Posted on 03/30/2022 8:24:47 PM PDT by Cronos
The German government said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday that Europe could continue paying for Russian gas in euros and not rubles as previously announced.
German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Putin had told Scholz that payments from Europe next month "would continue to be in euros and transferred as usual to the Gazprom Bank, which is not affected by sanctions."
The bank would then convert the payments into rubles, Hebestreit quoted Putin as saying.
Hebestreit said in a statement that Putin had stressed in the telephone call with Scholz "which took place at his (Putin's) request", that "nothing would change for European contract partners" when the new system takes effect on April 1.
"Chancellor Scholz did not agree to this procedure but asked for information in writing to better understand this procedure," Hebestreit said.
"What the G7 agreed stands: energy deliveries will be exclusively paid for in euros or dollars as it states in the contracts."
The Kremlin had earlier released its own readout of the conversation saying that Putin had told Scholz that Moscow's demand that Europe switch to paying for gas in rubles should not "lead to worsening of contractual terms for European importer companies."
Putin said last week that Moscow would begin only accepting rubles as payment for natural gas deliveries to "unfriendly" countries, including the members of the European Union.
He said the payment method was needed because the Russian central bank's currency reserves have been frozen by the EU.
Germany on Wednesday raised the alert level under its emergency gas plan over fears that Russia could cut off supplies if Western countries refused to make the payments in rubles.
Austria announced that it was following suit.
Speaking on behalf of the G7 energy ministers, Germany's Robert Habeck said Monday that Russia's request was a "unilateral and clear breach of the existing agreements."
Habeck said payments in rubles were "unacceptable" and called on energy companies not to comply with Putin's demand.
The Kremlin said Wednesday that Russia would not immediately require its natural gas buyers to pay in rubles.
"Payments and deliveries are a time-consuming process," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"It's not like... what will be delivered tomorrow, must be paid for by the evening."
On Thursday, the Russian government, its central bank and energy giant Gazprom are expected to present Putin with a new gas payment system that will be conducted in rubles.
You make some excellent points.
The problem with Russia compared to say Iraq.
Russia is the largest natural resources country on the planet, number two is the United States. While Iraq was a oil producer nation(A one trick pony) ran by a dictator who fancied himself a “Stalin Type.”
Russia is a different animal in the jungle of nations, they were isolationist and paranoid before the current organized anti Russian global campaign erupted. Now they’ve doubled down on their strategic mistake & are going to be stubborn about changing course.
Isolating Russia compared to Iraq is “a harder nut to crack,” they have better geography and alliances which makes them a more formidable opponent.
That was funny right there, I don’t care who you are. 😀
You seem to be in agreement with this gentleman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqeoa2b4N7w
at 8:28.
Now, I think the problem is much deeper than just 1 man (Putin), which makes the observation beginning at 7:55 through the end of the vid particularly pertinent (and somewhat close to my own view).
You sound like a rabid dog.
Rubles only...
...umm, ok Euros are just dandy...
putterin putin
Exactly.
Your opinion on these matters puts all of your previous writings in question.
Your support for putterin Putin is noted.
Rubles, rubles...
ok, we’ll take Euros.
EU is diversifying away from Russian dirty oil and will be independent of Russian energy by end of 2024.
Don't quit your day job.
Go figure.
While it appears Germany is looking at trying to spin the narrative on a technicality that they are not paying in rubles when by the time payments are made into Russia they will be in rubles..
....Russia never said payments in rubles starts tomorrow, Scholz and Putin did agree to ‘a timeline to implement payment in rubles’ which is not instantaneous and because it wasn’t as usual MSM is spinning a narrative that Putin has agreed it can be paid in Euros, only until agreed date.
Putin is accepting Euros instead of Rubles.
But, they will have cheap Chinese markets soon, after Euros sever Russian energy.
Ya hate to see it.
BTW -Pentagon said that the US had withdrawn its warships from the Black Sea. No decision on the timing of their return.
Probably after the war.
Yes. And I take pains to emphasise that this is Putin’s war, not Russia’s
Russia is a 98 lb economic weakling. The EU called thier bluff because they know that.
Bravo! Putin the “great liberator” slaughters the Russians in Maripol and destroys thier homes and businesses. He sends his troops to be slaughtered like pigs, cannon fodder. He’s just a murderous KGB thug.
This is a shell game. The Germans are effectively paying in Rubles by paying to the Gazprom bank in Germany which then converts to Rubles. They had no choice having idiotically made themselves almost completely dependent on Russia for their energy needs. This is going to take years for them to fix.
I wish we ran our current account the way Vladimir Putin runs his.....ie I wish we were able to control our spending and live within our means.
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