A total of ten European buyers of Russian gas have opened special accounts in rubles at Gazprombank and four have already made payments in the Russian currency, according to the Bloomberg agency, citing sources close to Gazprom.
The Russian gas giant this week cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after these two countries rejected the mechanism proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin for payments in rubles in the face of Western sanctions on currency transactions with Russia for his campaign military in Ukraine.
The source, who requested anonymity, indicated that no more gas cuts are planned until the second half of May, when other payments for Russian fuel in rubles are due to come in.
Gazprom explained that it has suspended “completely” the supply of gas to Bulgargaz (Bulgaria) and PGNiG (Poland) because it did not receive at the end of yesterday’s business day payments for deliveries in April in rubles as established by Putin’s decree of March 31 for countries “unfriendly”.
The Russian president ordered that day that those countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and all the Member States of the European Union (EU) – in which Russian gas accounts for 40% of consumption – pay for supplies in rubles.
The mechanism devised by Russia for this establishes that those countries considered hostile must open a special account in rubles and another in foreign currency at Gazprombank.
Putin’s idea is that the Russian bank receives the payment in the currency specified in the gas supply contract, the euro or the dollar, and then converts it into rubles on the Moscow foreign exchange market, the MICEX, and deposits it finally in the ruble account of the buyer.
Source: Gestion
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