The G7 countries considered on Monday that demanding payment for Russian gas in rubles “is not acceptable” and shows that President Vladimir Putin is “between a rock and a hard place,” said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck.
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“All G7 ministers agreed that this is a unilateral and clear violation of existing contracts (…) which means that a payment in rubles is not acceptable,” Habeck said after a telematic meeting with his G7 counterparts.
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We have to break the dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal. Russia is no longer a reliable supplier and is also creating geopolitical turmoil.
“Putin’s demand that gas be paid for in rubles is proof that he is up against the wall,” Habeck said.
Germany has been one of the most reluctant countries to include the energy sector in sanctions against Russia in the Ukraine war.
55 percent of the gas consumed in Germany is imported from Russia and Habeck reiterated the need to break that dependency.
Asked if Germany was prepared for an eventual interruption of Russian gas supplies, the minister said there were preparations “for any scenario and not only now but since the end of the previous year”.
Russia will only accept rubles as payment for gas
Russia warned on Monday that it will not supply gas if European countries do not agree to pay for shipments in rubles., as requested by Moscow. “It is obvious that we are not going to supply gas for free. That can be said with all certainty,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told his daily news conference.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that the country will refuse to pay for Russian gas in currencies, including the dollar and the euro, and that it will only charge in rubles for supplies to “unfriendly” countries, including those of the European Union (EU), US, or UK.
The news caused concern in the West, where several countries announced that they were not willing to buy the fuel if the payment had to be made in Russian rubles. The Kremlin insisted that in the current situation the country cannot “devote itself to charity”.
According to Peskov, such behavior is “neither possible nor convenient” for Moscow, which faces multiple sanctions imposed by the West.
On March 31, the Russian gas giant Gazprom, which for the moment keeps supplies to Europe unchanged, as well as the Central Bank and the Russian Government, will inform Putin about the measures to be taken to transfer the payment for the fuel in rubles.International newsroom with information from agencies
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