The state-owned Russian company Gazprom continues to supply gas to Europe, even though President Vladimir Putin has threatened to cut off gas from Friday.
On Friday, 101.4 million cubic meters of natural gas will be delivered to Europe, a Gazprom spokesman told dpa. This is almost 100 percent of the contracts signed between the parties.
On Friday, gas is still flowing through Nord Stream 1, which runs from Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The same applies to the gas pipeline through Ukraine that connects Russia with Europe.
The EU remains heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, and the gas is not covered by the harsh sanctions that are aimed at Russia for attacking Ukraine.
Must set up a special account
On Friday, Putin has threatened to cut off gas to the EU if they do not pay for the gas in rubles. He wants European countries to set up special ruble accounts so that he can stabilize the hard-hit Russian currency. This will be done through Gazprombank, which is not affected by sanctions. The bank remains part of the international Swift payment system.
It is not known whether any Western countries have already set up a ruble account in Gazprombank. But two major EU countries, Germany and France, have said that this is out of the question.
They are referring to contracts signed with Gazprom that state that gas must be paid for in euros.
Gas is Russia's most powerful economic weapon. But experts do not believe that Putin has any plans to close it. Instead, the decree on ruble accounts, which he put into effect on Friday, is intended to shield Russia from future sanctions. Russia cannot go anywhere else to sell its gas either.
- It amounts to a warning from Putin not to further tighten sanctions, says Jeffrey Scott of the Peterson Institute of International Economics think tank.
Ritzau / Reuters
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