Russia's western partners will 'adjust' to paying for gas in rubles - Siluanov
MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) - Russia's switch to settlements for its gas in rubles with "unfriendly" countries will support the country's national currency and reduce risks for commodity flows, and western partners will "adjust" to these changes, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
President Vladimir Putin announced last Wednesday that payment for Russian gas supplies to "unfriendly" countries will be switched to Russian rubles and gave the Central Bank and government a week to work out how buyers of Russian gas will acquire rubles on the Russian market.
"In our view, in the current difficult geopolitical conditions the transition to settlements in national currency is a reduction of risks in commodity exchanges, trade flows and settlements for them. Therefore, we believe that this decision is absolutely correct. Our western partners will adjust to this decision and understand that the ruble is no less a reliable currency than other reserve currencies," Siluanov said in an interview with Nailya Asker-Zade on the Vesti program on TV channel Rossiya 1.
He said the switch to ruble settlements will have no impact on the budget, since all taxes are paid in rubles.
"The budget will receive as much oil and gas revenues as it received. This issue will affect the stability of settlements, since settlements in rubles are currently far more reliable than in foreign currencies. That's the first thing. Secondly, this decision has had a positive impact on the ruble's exchange rate against other currencies. The ruble strengthened, confidence in the ruble strengthened, since the ruble is currently backed, among other things, by our export commodities," Siluanov said.
Russia currently exports about $10 billion worth of gas per month.
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Gazprom will determine aspects related to the transition to ruble payments for gas in the next few days and this information will be conveyed to buyers.
Meanwhile, European Union leaders plan to come to an agreement to jointly buy gas, according to reports in the media citing sources. The European Commission announced last Wednesday that it is prepared to consider and ascertain EU countries' collective needs for gas, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), and hydrogen, in order to buy fuel jointly along the lines of purchases of Covid-19 vaccine.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said that in imposing sanctions on Russia the EU should stick to the principle that these sanctions should hurt Russia more than they hurt the EU. Asked about Putin's order to switch payments for Russian gas exports to rubles, De Croo said that if the terms of contacts are changed, then everything else also has to be renegotiated, including prices.