Which countries agreed to pay for Russian gas in rubles?

Which countries agreed to pay for Russian gas in rubles?

Which countries agreed to pay for Russian gas in rubles?
The announcement on the transition to rubles payment for Russian natural gas, made on March 23 by the President of the Russian Federation seriously stirred up the financial markets and governments of a number of countries.  At the same time, the Russian departments were instructed to accept everything necessary for this by March 31 - thereby changing the already concluded contracts, but maintaining the volume of fuel supplied and the price level.

As a result, a special procedure for the fulfillment of obligations by foreign companies purchasing gas from Russia was introduced by the presidential decree.  The normative act affected those foreign states that were declared "unfriendly" for the Russian Federation, as well as organizations registered in them.
There are currently 48 unfriendly states.
All of them were asked to pay for gas in the Russian national currency.  Otherwise, Russia threatens to completely stop deliveries from April 1.  To pay in rubles, EU countries will need to open accounts in a Russian credit institution, which will exchange foreign currency for rubles through the Moscow Exchange.

It is known that the readiness to switch to payment in rubles was announced by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.  China is not included in the list of "unfriendly" countries, therefore, yuan is also considered as an alternative currency for trade with China.

The Prime Minister of Slovakia announced the possibility of paying for gas in rubles.  According to Eduard Heger, this will certainly make the country's energy system financially dependent on the Russian Federation.
However, now the Slovak authorities are more concerned about the reliability of gas supplies due to the ongoing military conflict on the territory of Ukraine.
At the same time, experts note that gas continues to flow steadily in the amount of more than 83 million m³ per day.

"Friendly" Moldova sees no problems in buying Russian gas for rubles and.  As the head of the Moldovagaz company Vadim Cheban told the media, the country is ready to pay for fuel not only in rubles, but also in European currency, since this is already provided for by contractual obligations dated October 29, 2021.

01.04.2022