A standoff between Russia and the world’s leading democratic economies looms large, as the G7 refuses to accede to Moscow’s demand that Europe pay for Russian natural gas in rubles, and Russia counters that it is not going to send its gas to Europe for free.
President Vladimir Putin announced last Wednesday that Russia henceforth will only accept payment in rubles for its gas supplies to “unfriendly” countries.
The move serves the dual purpose of strengthening the ruble, whose value plummeted after sanctions were imposed on Russia following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and of pressuring European governments reliant on Russian energy supplies to undercut their own sanctions.
But the G7 pushed back on Monday. After a video conference meeting, the group’s energy ministers said they “rejected Putin’s demand that gas deliveries must be paid in rubles, and reaffirmed that agreed contracts for gas deliveries must be respected, since most of the gas supply contracts explicitly stipulate payment in euros or dollars.”
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He has the right to demand payment in rubles. He owes them no charity.
Yes but are they paying in other means of currency that he doesn't like. Yes he can demand payment in rubles, but is he the only source in the world that they can get gas from?