A corresponding decree by President Vladimir Putin will be implemented, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, according to the Interfax news agency. In March, Putin instructed that “unfriendly states”, including all EU members, only pay for Russian gas in rubles.
“No Blackmail”
Peskow rejected accusations by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that this was an “extortion tool”. “It’s not blackmail,” said Peskov. Russia only requires customers to open accounts with Gazprombank to process payments. Accordingly, customers can continue to pay in euros or dollars there as before, the bank converts the amount and transfers the rubles to Gazprom. There are no additional burdens, said Peskow, not even through exchange rates.
At the same time, Putin’s confidant made it clear that Russia insisted on the system and would otherwise stop deliveries. The state budget is prepared for any failures. “Of course, everything is included, all risks are forecast, the appropriate measures are taken.”
Demands to stop “heating” EU countries
Individual deputies and senators in Russia had already called for a complete cessation of energy supplies to the West in order to stop “heating” the “unfriendly states”. Peskov now said that Russia would prefer to hear constructive proposals from the EU on how future relations could be shaped using political-diplomatic methods. “We are currently seeing statements from the head of EU diplomacy that everything should be decided on the battlefield,” said Peskov. Russia repeatedly criticizes the fact that the West – above all the EU and the USA – want to solve the conflict in Ukraine with arms deliveries and not with negotiations.
Source: Nachrichten
