Russian gas exports will be stopped if payments in rubles are not made from 1 April. This is the peremptory affirmation that came today from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. “To buy Russian gas, ruble accounts have to be opened in Russian banks,” Putin said in a televised speech. “It is from those accounts that the gas will be paid from April 1. If such payments are not made, we will consider this a failure by the customer to comply with its obligations.” According to an order signed by Putin and reported by the Bloomberg agency, buyers are expected to open special accounts in the Russian state-controlled Gazprombank to allow the exchange of foreign currency into rubles.
A position that denies the fact when reported in the last few hours by Italy and Germany that they had received guarantees from Putin himself that European gas purchases could still be made in euros.