Foreign currencies can be changed to rubles on the Moscow Exchange for Gazprom customers, but the U.K. has pulled out of this arrangement. At the same time, Europe has not been able to present a united front concerning the United States-imposed sanctions against Russia. Some nations will be hit harder than others and Hungary has already indicated its intention to avoid sanctions.
Slovakia, Bulgaria and Moldova have now decided to pay in rubles while Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have refused payments in Russian currency. Other nations are still trying to arrange deliveries.
“London wants to be the leader of everything anti-Russian. It even wants to be ahead of Washington. That’s the cost,” said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of Putin, when he spoke to the media about Britain’s hardline stance.
On March 31, Putin signed an order demanding gas buyers from “unfriendly countries” to open special ruble and foreign currency accounts with Gazprombank to pay for gas supplies.
Researchers at Goldman Sachs have estimated that U.S. exports of
liquefied natural gas (LNG) are as of now at capacity and therefore U.S.
energy supplies would not make up for the shortage. Furthermore, the
European Union does not yet have the infrastructure to accept larger
volumes of LNG imports....<<<Read More>>>...
