The energy crisis dramatically intensified a few days ago when Vladimir Putin threatened to turn off Europe's gas supplies if countries refuse to pay in rubles.
Russia continues to impose retaliatory sanctions on Western countries. Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratcheted up the pressure on foreign buyers of natural gas, telling so-called unfriendly countries to pay in rubles. "I made the decision to implement within the shortest possible time the package of measures to transfer payments - we will start with that - for our natural gas supplied to the so-called ‘unfriendly’ states to Russian rubles," Putin said during a meeting with the government. Russia will continue supplying gas to other countries in accordance with volumes and prices stipulated in earlier concluded contracts, he noted.
However, the Western partners were not enthusiastic about such a proposal. Main European buyers have so far refused to pay in rubles, saying that this demand breaches the terms of their purchase contracts. Experts believe that in order to fulfill the president's decree, Gazprom may create a subsidiary. It would convert the received currency into rubles and make payments, losing money on commission fees.
