Kremlin Palace "Gas Payment in Rubles Announcement Imminent... Euro Payment Also Under Review"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The Kremlin announced on the 31st (local time) that a specific ruble payment method for Russian gas has been established and will be announced soon.

According to TASS and other agencies, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said at a briefing that when asked, "Has the ruble payment method been reported to the president by today as instructed by President (Vladimir) Putin?" he replied, "Yes." He added, "This method will be announced today or soon."

When asked whether the payment method mentioned during the call between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Putin the previous day was under review, he answered, "It is being reviewed."

Steffen Hebestreit, spokesperson for the German government, relayed the content of the Russia-Germany summit call the previous day, stating, "President Putin explained to Chancellor Scholz that Europe's gas payments for next month will continue to be made in euros, and that payments should be sent to Gazprombank, which is not affected by sanctions, as has been done so far."

The German government spokesperson introduced that President Putin said he would announce a decree requiring gas payments to be made in rubles starting from the 1st of next month, but "nothing will change for European contracting parties."

It was explained that European gas buyers would pay in euros to Gazprombank, a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom, and the bank would convert euros into rubles. Peskov did not comment on whether this method would apply to other gas-importing countries.

Earlier, on the 23rd, President Putin announced that when selling Russian natural gas to countries unfriendly to Russia, such as Europe, payments would only be accepted in the Russian currency, the ruble, instead of dollars or euros. He instructed the government, the central bank, and Gazprom to prepare a plan for switching to ruble payments by the 31st. However, the European Union (EU) and the Group of Seven (G7) major countries have stated that Russia's demand for ruble payment for gas is a breach of contract and have refused it.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.