Telephone call with Scholz: Putin guarantees gas payments in euros

According to the federal government, the Russian President has declared to Chancellor Scholz that nothing will change for the contractual partners when it comes to paying for gas deliveries. Accordingly, invoices can still be paid in euros.

In a telephone conversation with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that nothing would change when it comes to paying for Russian gas supplies to European contract partners. This was announced by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.

In the phone call, Putin said that gas deliveries would have to be paid for in rubles from April 1, Hebestreit said. At the same time, the Russian President has assured that European companies can continue to pay their bills for Russian gas in euros.

The payments would therefore be transferred as usual to Gazprom Bank, which is not affected by the sanctions. The bank then converts the money into rubles.

Scholz has not approved the procedure

Putin declared last week that in future only rubles would be accepted as payment for gas deliveries to “unfriendly” countries. This includes all EU countries. The G7 countries, among others, rejected the announcement as “unacceptable” and called on their companies not to comply with the Russian demand.

Scholz did not agree to the procedure now explained by Putin, Hebestreit explained. The Chancellor “only asked for written information in order to understand the procedure more precisely”.

The G7 agreement continues to apply: “Energy deliveries are paid exclusively in euros or dollars. As stipulated in the contracts.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had previously announced that the payment system would only be changed gradually. On Thursday, the Russian government, the country’s central bank, which is subject to Western sanctions, and the Russian energy giant Gazprom want to present their plans for implementing the measure.