As of Friday, the countries considered “inamical” by Moscow will no longer be able to pay their bills in euros or dollars. At least, officially … because each party seems to have found the way to arrange with the penalties of the other.
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Can Russian gas miss tomorrow? The question is not that incongruous that this is the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno the Mayor. “There may be a situation in which tomorrow (…) there will be no more Russian gas,” he recognized, on March 31 in Berlin, at a press conference with his German counterpart, Robert Habeck.
As of Friday 1 Er April, Russia will deliver gas to the countries of the European Union (EU) only a condition: the countries considered “inamical” – C ‘ Among, opposite the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army – will have to settle their rubles to stock up, rather than in euros or dollars. In case of refusal, “the current contracts will be arrested,” threatened the head of the Kremlin in a televised speech, Thursday.
The measure aims in particular to support the ruble course, the Russian currency has collapsed after first Western penalties to protest against the invasion of Ukraine. The Gel of Russian assets abroad would indeed represent some $ 300 billion (€ 271 billion). A little less than half of the Russian central bank reserves.
Gazprombank, a very useful intermediary
As designed by the Kremlin, the device seems to allow, in reality, to each protagonist to arrange with his own interpretation of the situation. And for good reason, the Kremlin provides for two separate accounts for importing companies. An account to pay their payment in their original currency; And another account to convert all of this to rubles, through Gazprombank, the banking institution of the Russian Energetician Gazprom, which has so far escaped the European sanctions. “For the one who receives the Russian gas, who pays the deliveries, there are no change in the facts. They just acquire rubles for the currency amount which is provided in the contract,” assured Dmitry Peskov, Word of the Kremlin, Thursday.
This semblance of compromise can give binder to paradoxical communications, each tempting to save appearances. On one side, while ensuring a reliable supplier, Vladimir Putin highlights his decree. On the other hand, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, reminds that “it is written in the contracts that payments are made in euros and sometimes in dollars”. And adding: “I made it clear to the Russian president that would remain so. (…) Companies want to be able to pay in euros and do it.”
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