From Friday, payments for gas should only be made in rubles. But so far concrete steps are open.
A week ago, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin announced that in future he would only sell Russian gas to western countries for rubles. Now he wants to discuss concrete steps with representatives of the gas giant Gazprom and the central bank. Putin had previously instructed that the modalities for converting payments from euros and dollars to rubles for customers from “unfriendly countries” should be worked out by today’s Thursday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that the new payment system will not come into force directly on Thursday. The delivery of gas and payment are separate processes. At the same time, he recently emphasized that Russia is not a charity and said: “No one will supply gas for free, and it can only be paid for in rubles.” Moscow justified its actions with an alleged “economic war” by the West.
The group of G7 economic powers, including Austria’s most important trading partners Germany, the USA and Italy, as well as the European Union as a whole reject payments in rubles. The German government had accused Russia of breaching the treaty. On Wednesday evening, Putin called Chancellor Olaf Scholz – and, according to the Kremlin, assured that the switch to ruble payments for Russian gas should not lead to disadvantages for Germany.
As a precaution, Austria, like Germany, has declared the early warning level in the emergency plan for the gas supply. The reason for this is Russia’s announcement that future gas deliveries will only be paid for in rubles, the climate ministry said on Wednesday afternoon. This will further tighten the surveillance and monitoring system. Energy control measures such as rationing are not planned for the time being – they are only planned from level 3.
After the talks with Putin, Scholz (SPD) confirmed that Germany would continue to pay for gas deliveries from Russia in euros or dollars, as provided for in the contracts. In the phone call, Putin explained that as of April 1, a law will apply according to which the delivery of gas must be paid for in rubles, as the spokesman for the German government, Steffen Hebestreit, said in the evening.
However, nothing would change for the European contractual partners: payments would continue to be made exclusively in euros and, as usual, would be transferred to Gazprom Bank, which is not affected by the sanctions. The bank then converts the money into rubles. Scholz did not agree to this procedure, but only asked for written information about it, Hebestreit emphasized. Putin asked for the conversation.
Putin’s announced meeting with the central bank and Gazprom, as well as the refusal of Western countries to switch to the ruble, had nonetheless triggered fears in Europe that Russia could quickly cut off gas supplies. Concerns have also grown in Germany. The German government announced the first of three stages of a gas emergency plan on Wednesday. This is intended to strengthen precautions in the event of an emergency, and a crisis management team has been set up.
Gas supply freeze would also affect Ukraine
The appeal went to consumers and companies to save gas. The security of supply is currently still guaranteed. The Berlin government again stressed that Russia’s demand for payment of gas supplies in rubles was a breach of the supply contracts.
Above all, rising energy prices are causing increasing problems – consumer prices in Germany in March were 7.3 percent above the level of the same month last year. In 2022 as a whole, consumers are threatened with the highest inflation since reunification. The “Wirtschaftswise” warned that Germany could plunge into recession if the crisis worsened.
A possible Russian gas supply stop would also affect Ukraine, which receives important transit fees from gas transit. Despite the war of aggression launched by Russia, large quantities of gas have been pumped through Ukrainian pipelines every day. Since the beginning of the war on February 24, well over three billion cubic meters of natural gas have been transported west from Russia, according to the Ukrainian state operator for the gas transmission system.
(APA/DPA)