The German government has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Europe can continue to pay for Russian gas in euros instead of rubles, as Moscow recently announced.
According to German government spokesman Steffen Hebeschright, Putin assured Scholz that payments from Europe next month “will continue to be made in euros and will be transferred, as usual, to Gazprombank, which is not subject to sanctions,” and that he will take care about conversion into rubles.
The BBC, meanwhile, said Scholz disagreed with the conversion process and demanded written explanations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also had a telephone conversation with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, TASS reported citing the Kremlin’s press service.
Putin briefed Draghi on talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul. He also explained how the transition to ruble payments for Russian gas supplies will take place, the Kremlin said.
Earlier, Putin said that Russia, the world’s largest producer of natural gas, will soon require “enemy” countries to pay for fuel in rubles, which raises concerns about a possible gas crisis in Europe, according to Reuters.
“Only the currency of the payment changes, the currency of the agreement does not change,” said one source, citing the agreement with the euro – payments should be made at the official exchange rate of the ruble to the euro set by the Central Bank of Russia. The proposed scheme is one of the options and, according to sources, is not final.
According to a third Russian source, Gazprombank, Russia’s third-largest bank, could mediate agreements between gas buyers and Gazprom.
“There is no final decision yet, the work is underway,” a participant in the development of the gas payment scheme told Reuters.
Russia’s central bank, Gazprom and Gazprombank did not respond to Reuters’ comments.
The Kremlin has not yet decided how gas payments will be made in the new environment, but said measures could be extended to other raw materials for export from Russia.