Russia will export food and grain only to “friendly countries” with payments in rubles or in their national currency, the Russian news agency RIA reported, citing a statement today by Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia.
In the previous days o President of the Duma Vyacheslav Volodin warned the EU that if it wanted to import gas from Russia, will have to pay in rubles, he added that the same may apply to exports of oil, cereals, metals, fertilizers, coal and timber.
After the West imposed severe sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that the gas exported to the EU be paid in rubles. The G7 energy ministers rejected this request yesterday, Tuesday, while the French President Emanuel Macron clarified to his Russian counterpart that such a thing would be impossible.
“If you want gas, find rubles,” Volodin said in a post.
At the same time, the Russian president signed the decree for gas payments in rubles and spoke of an “economic war” and stressed that he was determined to react and deal an economic blow to Western countries.
In particular, the presidential decree signed by Putin stipulates that buyers will pay in the currency of the contract and will authorize the bank to convert the currency into rubles which will be placed in a second account from which the gas market will be repaid. In practice, Europe continues to pay in euros and the Russian bank will make them into rubles.
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