‘Unfriendly’ Countries Reject Russian Demand To Pay For Gas In Rubles

Russian President Vladimir Putin made an announcement last week that “unfriendly” countries, particularly those in the G-7 and Western aligned countries, would have to pay for Russian gas in rubles.

The Group of Seven economies, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, the U.S., and the U.K., have since come together to agree to stick to already existing contracts around payments for Russian oil, meaning they cannot abide by the Kremlin’s request.

“All G-7 ministers agreed completely that this [would be] a one-sided and clear breach of the existing contracts,” said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, according to ABC News. “Payment in ruble is not acceptable and we will urge the companies affected not to follow Putin’s demand.”

“Putin’s demand to convert the contracts to ruble [means] he is standing with his back to the wall in that regard, otherwise he wouldn’t have made that demand,” Habeck added. “Putin’s effort to drive a wedge between us is obvious but you can see that we won’t allow ourselves to be divided and the answer from the G-7 is clear: the contracts will be honored.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed, according to Bloomberg, saying that “the contracts that we are aware of are overwhelmingly in euros and the companies will pay them accordingly.”

“We have a situation in which, to put it very simply, contracts must be fulfilled,” Scholz added.

Putin's intention is to help support the drastically falling ruble, which has lost most of its value due to international sanctions. European countries are in a difficult situation because of their reliance on Russian oil.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reminded the world that the Kremlin will not “supply gas for free,” adding, “In our situation, it’s hardly possible and feasible to engage in charity for Europe.”