G7 dismisses Russian request for gas payment in rubles
The Group of Seven sees that the Russian decision to only accept rub;es for gas payments is not acceptable and alleges that Putin "has his back against the wall."
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A view shows railroad freight cars, including oil tanks, in Omsk, Russia
The Group of Seven dismissed Monday Russian President Putin's decision to only accept Russian rubles for gas sales to Europe.
"All G7 (energy) ministers agreed that this is a unilateral and clear breach of the existing agreements," said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, whose country chairs the G7.
"Payment in rubles is not acceptable and... we call on the companies concerned not to comply with Putin's demand," he said in response to Moscow's decision that came to curb the devaluation of the ruble against the USD.
Habeck also claimed that Putin would not have had taken this decision had he not felt like he had his "back against the wall."
President Vladimir Putin had said Wednesday Russia would only accept payments in rubles for gas deliveries to "unfriendly countries," in a nod to all EU members in light of the harsh round of sanctions they imposed on Moscow over its special military operation in Ukraine.
"I have decided to implement a set of measures to transfer payment for our gas supplies to unfriendly countries into Russian rubles," Putin said.
Earlier this month, the Russian ruble reached historic lows upon the authorization of the special military operation and the announcement of West-led sanctions against the Russian economy. On March 7, the currency dropped to historic lows of 132 rubles per dollar, and 147 rubles per euro. Before that period, the currency was exchanged at 75 rubles per dollar and 85 rubles per euro.
However, following Putin's announcement, Russia's ruble rose in the face of the USD and the euro, marking a major hike since the currency took a dive against the western currencies.
The crisis in question is due to Russia launching a special military operation for several reasons, including NATO's eastward expansion. Other reasons were the Ukrainian shelling of Donbass and the killing of the people of the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, in addition to Moscow wanting to "denazify" and demilitarize Ukraine.
