Russia demand: G7 countries reject gas payments in rubles

The G7 countries have rejected a Russian request to pay gas bills in rubles. According to Economic Minister Hebek, G7 Energy Ministers agree that this requirement violates existing agreements.

The countries of the G7 group are not ready to pay Russian gas tariffs in rubles. This was confirmed by Federal Minister of Economy and Climate Defense Robert Hebeck after a virtual meeting with G7 energy ministers.

G7 ministers acknowledged that Russia’s demands for payment in rubles were a “unilateral and clear violation of existing agreements”, Hebek said. The completed contracts are valid and the affected companies must be true to the contract. “So this means that paying in rubles is unacceptable.”

Germany currently chairs a group of states that include Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the United States and Great Britain. Hebek said the European Union also participated in the round.

Putin wants to pay in rubles

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that gas supplies to “friendly states” would be charged only in rubles. This will support the troubled Russian currency as importing countries will have to buy rubles. Russia’s central bank should introduce a new system “within a week,” Putin said. Affected countries include Germany and all other EU countries. So far, gas supplies in Germany have been paid for, for example, in euros.

“Putin’s attempt to divide us is obvious,” Hebek said. But there is great similarity. “We will not allow ourselves to be separated, and the response of the G7 countries is clear: agreements will be heeded.”

“Ready for all scenes”

When asked about the preparations for the event, which will cut off Russia’s gas supply, Hebek said: “We are ready for all circumstances.” The federal government has been making responses to the footage since the beginning of this year. Hebek said Putin’s demand for payment in rubles “stands behind the wall, otherwise he would not have put forward this demand.”

Western payments for energy supplies to direct funding for the Russian war against Ukraine are not decisive. Putin can do things in his own country, such as financing the military, providing troops, refueling tanks or developing weapons of war. “He needs a ruble for that. He can print a ruble,” Hebek said. “Until Russian workers accept the ruble as a means of payment, he will be able to finance the war from his own resources.”

However, the ruble exchange rate in foreign currencies has been very difficult due to sanctions against the central bank, Hebek said. Nevertheless, in order to strengthen the Russian government or keep it alive, one must be free of gas, coal and oil from Russia. Russia is an “unreliable supplier” and its propaganda “has made a significant contribution to the disruption of global peace and order.”

Russia threatens to cut off supplies

So far, despite its war of aggression against Ukraine and Western sanctions, Russia has continued to supply gas to Europe. Moscow, meanwhile, wants to offset declining oil supplies to European countries with exports to Asia. “There is also a market in Southeast Asia, in the East,” according to the Interfox agency, before the announcement of the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov Hebek.

The world market is different from the European market. “Of course, the European market is premium,” said a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Peskov underscored Russia’s demand that in the future the supply of natural gas to European countries be paid in rubles. If Russia refuses, it is clear that it will not supply gas to Europe “for free”. In Russia’s current situation, it is “possible or prudent.”

Pesco responded with a threat to President Olaf Scholes’ (SPD) announcement that Germany’s support for Russia’s energy imports would be eliminated “very soon.” In ARD broadcasting Anne Will Scholes said on Sunday that Germany could do it faster with coal and oil.