energy imports
Kremlin on rejected ruble payments: are not benefactors
Systems at the Mallnow natural gas compressor station of Gascade Gastransport GmbH. The compressor station in Mallnow near the German-Polish border primarily accepts Russian natural gas. Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
With his announcement that payments for gas deliveries will in future only be accepted in rubles, Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin wants to put pressure on the EU. His spokesman follows up in an interview.
After the EU largely refused to pay for gas supplies in rubles, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has announced possible new steps by Russia.
“No pay – no gas,” said Peskov in an interview with the American television chain PBS, according to the state agency TASS. Moscow wants to wait for the EU’s response and then determine the next steps. “But we definitely do not intend to present ourselves as benefactors and deliver free gas to Western Europe,” Peskov said.
The confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of unleashing an all-out economic war against Russia. “Unfortunately, these circumstances are extremely unfriendly,” Peskov said of the sanctions. This has brought us to the point of “total war”. “And we in Russia perceive this war in such a way that the Western European countries, the USA, Canada and Australia are waging an actual war on trade, on the economy, they are confiscating our property, our cash and blocking our finances,” Peskov complained. “And now we have to adapt to the new reality.”
Putin had ordered last week that natural gas could only be delivered to “unfriendly” states like Germany if payment was made in rubles. This has already been rejected by some heads of state and government with reference to a breach of contract.