Peskov says ruble payment mechanism for gas to be disclosed soon

MOSCOW, Mar 31 (PRIME) -- The Russian government has worked out a mechanism to pay for natural gas exports in rubles, the documents were submitted to President Vladimir Putin and will become public very soon, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

When asked whether the mechanism was drafted, Peskov said, “Yes, this is true.”

When asked when it will become public, he said, “It will happen very soon, it can even happen today.”

Putin ordered the government, the central bank, and Gazprom to switch payments for Russian gas to rubles for the unfriendly countries by March 31. Peskov said on Wednesday that switching into rubles would be long, not from Friday.

Following Wednesday’s conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the mechanism, Putin ordered his economic advisor Maxim Oreshkin to talk to his German counterpart Jorg Kukies and explain work of the ruble mechanism in detail, Peskov said.

“Like we’ve said previously, there will be no changes for the receivers of Russian gas that pay for the supplies. In any case, they will buy rubles with the currency mentioned in the contract. Russia complies with all liabilities under all existing contracts in regards to the amount and prices,” he said.

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