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Economic war

Has Putin promised Scholz that Germany will still be able to pay for gas in euros?
On the evening of March 30, German media reported that Russian President Putin had promised German Chancellor Scholz that Germany would be allowed to continue paying its gas bill in euros. Is that true?

The news in the German media that Putin Scholz promised in a telephone call that Germany could continue to pay for gas in euros came as a great surprise after Putin had ordered that gas orders would have to be paid in rubles in the future. The mirror, for example, wrote:

"Putin had explained in the phone call that from April 1, a law was in force, according to which the supply of gas had to be paid in rubles. However, nothing would change for the European contracting parties: the payments would continue to be made exclusively in euros and, as usual, transferred to Gazprom Bank, which was not affected by the sanctions. The bank then converts the money into rubles. Scholz did not agree to this procedure, but only asked for written information about it.“

This was also reported by other German media, referring to a communication from the federal government. This is strange, because on the side of the Kremlin you could not read anything like this. The Kremlin wrote about the phone call between Putin and Scholz:

"Vladimir Putin informed the Chancellor about the content of the decision to pay for gas supplies, in particular to Germany, in Russian rubles. The change in the settlement procedure is introduced because the foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Russia have been frozen by the EU member States in violation of international law. It is noted that this decision should not lead to a deterioration in the terms of the contract for European companies – importers of Russian gas. It was agreed that experts from both countries will discuss this issue further.“

From this report I can not see what the German media are reporting. However, the Kremlin spokesman had previously stated that the switch to rubles would not take place immediately. He did not give reasons. I suspect that the regulation will be introduced from a certain deadline for new gas orders, but for old orders it will still be possible to pay in euros or dollars. Whether I am right with this assumption will be seen.

On the other hand, Valentina Matvienko, the chairman of the Russian Federation Council, said on the same day:

"I hope the European states will come to their senses. You've shot yourself in the knee before, but a second time? That would be pretty bad. And the boomerang effect would intensify many times over and cause great damage to the EU economy“

The Russian news agency TASS has published an article on the question

The German government reports that Russia is ready to convert payments for gas through Gazprombank into rubles
The Kremlin's press service had previously reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed that the switch to paying for Russian gas in rubles should be further discussed by experts from both countries.

Russia has agreed to accept payments for gas from European partners in euros through Gazprombank, which will convert them into rubles. This was stated by Steffen Hebestreit, the spokesman for the federal government, on Wednesday after a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

According to him, the Russian leader said that "payments continue to be made exclusively in euros and, as usual, are transferred to Gazprombank, which is not subject to sanctions, and then the bank converts the amount into rubles." The German version states: "Scholz did not agree to this procedure during the conversation, but simply requested written information in order to understand the procedure in more detail." "The G7 agreement remains in force: energy supplies will be paid exclusively in euros or dollars. As stipulated in the contracts,“ the statement reads.

According to the German government, the conversation took place on the initiative of the Russian side.

As the Kremlin's press service announced earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have agreed that the transition to paying for Russian gas in rubles will be further discussed by experts from both countries. It was noted that the adopted decision should not lead to a deterioration in the terms of the contract for European companies importing Russian gas.

The press secretary of the Russian head of state, Dmitry Peskov, had previously stressed that the payment in rubles will not apply from March 31. "Payment and delivery is a time-consuming process. This does not mean that everything that is delivered tomorrow must be paid by tomorrow evening [in rubles]. No, this is a technically more time-consuming process,“ he added. According to him, data on the mechanism are provided, the instruction of the president must be fulfilled.

Earlier, Putin ordered to convert payments for gas supplies to unfriendly countries into rubles. He stated that Moscow would refuse to accept payments under such contracts in compromised currencies, including dollars and euros, and instructed the government to instruct Gazprom to make the necessary changes to the existing contracts.

Whether and when Russia will charge rubles for its gas supplies and whether Russia will turn off the gas tap when refusing ruble payments remains open. Whether Russia grants Germany some kind of exemption, as German media reports suggest, is also open.

The matter is obviously not as clear-cut as it sounds in the German media.

https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/2022/hat-put…


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