Russian gas for rubles: how it will work

Alexey Gromov, Principal Director on Energy Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented for the Vesti program of the Rossiya TV channel regarding the transfer of payments for the export of Russian natural gas to unfriendly countries into rubles.

"First of all, this is support for the exchange rate of the Russian national currency. The second is protection against the potential freezing of payments by our foreign partners for Russian gas if adopted, since blocking our payments in the currency would be possible. And the third is support for the Russian financial system, since it is obvious that such a mechanism will be built that will allow, and possibly oblige, foreign partners to purchase rubles from Russian banks, and, possibly, from banks that have fallen under sanctions restrictions,” Alexey Gromov explained.