Russia will start selling gas for rubles in April

Alexey Gromov, Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Business FM radio station on the scheme proposed by Russia for transferring gas payments to rubles from the so-called unfriendly countries.

“The company that buys Russian gas transfers euros or dollars to a special currency account with Gazprombank, Gazprombank converts the currency received through the sale on the Moscow Exchange into rubles and transfers this money from the ruble account of its foreign client to the seller, that is, Gazprom. Therefore, in principle, for European partners, nothing critical is happening in this scheme, the same payments in euros will be made, only through an authorized bank. And the only obligation that is introduced in this case for foreign partners is to open an appropriate special currency and special ruble account with Gazprombank.”