Posted on Mar 24, 2022
Putin demands 'unfriendly countries' pay for Russian gas in rubles
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https://www.npr.org/2022/03/23/ [login to see] /putin-russia-gas-ruble
Russia wants "unfriendly countries" to pay for Russian natural gas in rubles. That's a new directive from President Vladimir Putin as he attempts to leverage his country's in-demand resources to counter a barrage of Western sanctions.
"I have decided to implement ... a series of measures to switch payments — we'll start with that — for our natural gas supplies to so-called unfriendly countries into Russian rubles," Putin said in a televised government meeting, adding that trust in the dollar and euro had been "compromised" by the West's seizure of Russian assets.
The new requirement appeared aimed at propping up the flagging Russian currency, the ruble, by increasing demand for it. Its value gained against the dollar and the euro following Putin's announcement. Natural gas prices surged in Europe, where Russia has supplied about 45% of imports.
Marcel Salikhov, president of the Institute for Energy and Finance in Moscow, said the move amounted to a "symbolic counter-sanction" aimed at the West. He noted that the Kremlin had already ordered exporters to exchange 80% of their foreign-currency proceeds for rubles.
Russia wants "unfriendly countries" to pay for Russian natural gas in rubles. That's a new directive from President Vladimir Putin as he attempts to leverage his country's in-demand resources to counter a barrage of Western sanctions.
"I have decided to implement ... a series of measures to switch payments — we'll start with that — for our natural gas supplies to so-called unfriendly countries into Russian rubles," Putin said in a televised government meeting, adding that trust in the dollar and euro had been "compromised" by the West's seizure of Russian assets.
The new requirement appeared aimed at propping up the flagging Russian currency, the ruble, by increasing demand for it. Its value gained against the dollar and the euro following Putin's announcement. Natural gas prices surged in Europe, where Russia has supplied about 45% of imports.
Marcel Salikhov, president of the Institute for Energy and Finance in Moscow, said the move amounted to a "symbolic counter-sanction" aimed at the West. He noted that the Kremlin had already ordered exporters to exchange 80% of their foreign-currency proceeds for rubles.
Putin demands 'unfriendly countries' pay for Russian gas in rubles
Posted from npr.org
Russia
Vladimir Putin
Finance
Money
Oil and Energy
Posted >1 y ago
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Yet another reason NOT TO BUY Russian gas and oil and go back to domestic energy production.
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Well, when they do what they did with Swift, its whats gonna happen. The world has traded oil for dollars since the 70's, and I have felt its the reason the dollar has not collapsed due to our crazy spending. What happens if they stop doing that? Pretty sure it was why we took out Libya, because they were starting to do that. Countries look at what we did with the sanctions and banking to Russia, and decide I am tired of Uncle Sam pushing us around and we can't do anything about it. And they all say screw you, and start using China or some other countries money. We could be in deep shit. Don't take this as a pro Russia deal, I despise them and what they are doing. But this could back fire on us badly. We have a huge trade imbalance already, what if we have to start paying for everything in someone else's currency, to the value of the dollar? If the middle east countries, who all hate us, and the South American oil producers, and Russia, all get together and say screw the US and Europe and their trying to force us all to go green, when we sell oil for our money, and we won't let them force us to stop doing what pays our bills. Things could go to crap in a hurry here. Where do we get our meds from, electronics, clothes, shoes. Canada, yeah, they love us since we cancelled the pipeline. Mexico, yeah, they don't hold a grudge over Texas to California being taken from them. We need to be careful what we wish for here.
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