Counterorder: the EU can pay for Russian gas as Moscow wants
EU companies may have found a way to pay for Russian gas in rubles without violating sanctions, the European Commission said Friday, or rather, the way has always existed.
Companies would have to pay in euros or dollars, which would then be converted into rubles, although transactions should also be accompanied by a statement explaining how the companies consider their contractual obligations completed once the euros or dollars are sent. That is exactly what Lavrov explained just a few days ago.
Russia had set a deadline of March 31 for "hostile" or "hostile" nations to start paying in rubles for natural gas, although the EU initially opposed this request, arguing that such a request would be a violation. of the contract on behalf of Russia, and that paying in rubles would violate the sanctions. Russia also muddled the waters in the days following the initial request for rubles, injecting a fair amount of confusion over how the program would work.
But earlier this week Russia cleared up the complicated gas ruble scheme for those hostile nations, which include EU members and the United States, among others. According to the program, these nations would not be able to pay for gas using Gazprom's bank accounts overseas because the funds would be susceptible to freezing due to the sanctions. Instead, these nations would have to pay in euros or dollars using a special account they would have to open with Gazprombank, which converts the payment into rubles.
Gazprom would then have access to funds protected by rubles sanctions.
News that the EU has found a way to pay without violating sanctions comes when the White House on Friday said the EU was determined to ban Russian oil and gas imports, although Germany opposed a total ban. and immediate due to its heavy dependence on Russian energy imports.
In the end, the solution provided by Gazprombank to pay "in Rubles" is legitimate and achievable, and the Commission has only made "Much Ado About Nothing". Or, simply, Berlin has ordered Brussels to "Do not disturb the conductor". We know very well that only one is in charge in the EU.
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The article Counterorder: the EU can pay for Russian gas as it wants Moscow comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/contrordine-la-ue-puo-pagare-il-gas-russo-come-vuole-mosca/ on Sat, 23 Apr 2022 06:00:31 +0000.