French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday that their countries won’t buy Russian gas with rubles, insisting that gas contracts in euros “must be observed.” Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Berlin that payments in euros would be converted to rubles upon arrival in Russia.
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Habeck said that Europe would not be “blackmailed” by Russia into using Russian currency to buy gas. Putin has demanded that, as of Friday, “unfriendly” countries – those who “illegally” sanctioned Russia’s central bank in response to the conflict in Ukraine – will have to pay for Russian gas in rubles or have their supply cut off.
However, Habeck told reporters that existing gas contracts between European nations and Russia, which were negotiated in euros, “must be observed.” Habeck reiterated an earlier statement from the Group of Seven major economies, which read, “We will under no circumstances accept paying for gas deliveries in a currency other than the contractually agreed currency.”