Russia's decision to sell gas for rubles

Marcel Salikhov, President of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to RBC on Russia's decision to switch to ruble payments for gas supplies to "unfriendly" countries.

Marcel Salikhov, President of the Institute for Energy and Finance told RBC that changing the settlement currency will require changing long-term contracts.

“Potentially, the mechanism can be arranged as follows. European importers sell euros on the Moscow Exchange for rubles and pay Gazprom. From an economic point of view, this is equivalent to the requirement of 100% sale of export earnings from natural gas for deliveries to the EU countries. The only difference is who sells this currency on the market - European companies or Gazprom", the expert said.

According to Salikhov, the new requirement does not significantly change Gazprom's financial position. “Firstly, it saves export earnings from those countries that are not classified as “unfriendly”. First of all, these are Turkey and China. Secondly, Gazprom also has the opportunity to buy foreign currency with the rubles received from European companies,” the economist said.