About half of the foreign companies that have entered into a gas supply contract with Russian giant Gazprom have opened a ruble account with Gazprombank to honor their payments, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday, quoted by Ria Novosti. .
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According to the Minister, "
54 companies
" are bound by a contract with Gazprom Export.
"
According to my figures, about half have already opened in our bank special accounts - in foreign currency and in rubles - to allow the transfer in foreign currency, their conversion into rubles and the payment of gas supplied in rubles
," he said. precise.
“
In the next few days we will have the final list of those who paid in rubles and those who refused to pay
,” he added.
In response to the freezing of some 300 billion dollars of foreign exchange reserves that Russia had abroad, the Kremlin issued a decree introducing from April a new procedure for gas payment in two phases, with first payment into a Gazprombank account in euros or dollars, then conversion into rubles in a second account opened with the same establishment.
Circumvention of EU sanctions?
While Brussels has repeatedly ruled that such a ruble conversion mechanism represents a circumvention of EU sanctions, several member states anxious to maintain their supplies have asked the European Commission for clarification.
On Tuesday, Italian energy giant ENI announced its decision to open an account in euros and another in rubles with Gazprombank.
Conversely, Gasum, the company responsible for gas imports to Finland, announced on the same day that it refused to pay Gazprom export in rubles and said it feared a cut in its Russian gas supplies.
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Other countries, such as Poland or Bulgaria, which refused to pay in rubles for not supporting the Russian economy during the offensive in Ukraine, have already had their gas cut off by Gazprom.
The EU is Russia's main client and it has been seeking since the launch of the offensive in Ukraine to be no longer dependent on Russian hydrocarbons.