Unfriendly' states to pay for Russian gas in roubles

Russia will refuse to accept payment for natural gas supplies in ‘compromised' currencies, including the dollar and the euro, and will move to payments in roubles, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday at the meeting with the Cabinet.

"I made the decision to implement within the shortest possible time the package of measures to transfer payments – we will start with that – for our natural gas supplied to the so-called ‘unfriendly' states to Russian roubles," the Mr Putin said.

Russia will continue supplying gas to other countries in accordance with volumes and prices stipulated in earlier concluded contracts, Putin noted.

"I would like to stress separately that Russia will definitely continue supplying natural gas in accordance with volumes and prices, pricing principles set in earlier concluded contracts," the head of state added.

Foreign consumers should have an opportunity to make required transactions after conversion of gas settlements with unfriendly countries to roubles, the Russian leader said.

"I ask the government to give an appropriate directive to Gazprom on making changes to effective contracts. At the same time, all foreign consumers must be provided with the opportunity to perform required transactions," Putin said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday European countries had demonstrated their unreliability as partners and Moscow would be considering possible cooperation proposals based on a "qualitatively new stance,"

"We are not shutting our door if Europe changes its mind," he said. "However, there must be an understanding, as I have said before, that we will not be dependent on anyone. Europe showed its unreliability as a partner."

"We will grow stronger, including with the help of the EAEU [the Eurasian Economic Union], SCO [the Shanghai Cooperation Organization], BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa] and other mechanisms. After that we will be considering projects, proposed for the mutual implementation, from the qualitatively new stance," Lavrov added.

The foreign minister stressed that after gaining its present-day form of the nationhood, Russia was willing to cooperate with all parties, which expressed reciprocal readiness based on equality, mutual benefits, bilateral respect and the search for a balance of interests and compromise.

"This is why we had a record high figure of trade with Europe for many years and it stood at US$430 billion in 2010, 2011, 2012," Lavrov said. "However, when Europe waivered and experienced humiliation from Ukrainian ultra-radicals after the Maidan [riots], when all of its guarantees were spit upon and it [Europe] was shelved away from all plans, which neo-Nazis aimed to implement, Europe tried to compensate its feebleness by accusing us of everything," the Russian minister said.

Meanwhile, Mr Putin plans to attend the next G20 summit in Indonesia later this year and received valuable backing from Beijing yesterday in a pushback to suggestions by some members that Russia could be barred from the group, Reuters reports.

The United States and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain within the Group of 20 major economies following its invasion of Ukraine.

But any move to exclude Russia would probably be vetoed by others in the group, raising the prospect of some countries instead skipping G20 meetings.

In another development, Russia yesterday said it was expelling US diplomats in retaliation for Washington's move to remove 12 of Moscow's representatives to the UN based in New York.

"On March 23, a note with the list of the American diplomats declared ‘persona non grata' was handed to the head of the American diplomatic mission who was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the ministry said in a statement.

The decision was taken in response to the expulsion by Washington of Russian diplomats at the UN in New York, the source said.

"The US side has been given firm notice that any hostile action by the United States against Russia will be met with a resolute and appropriate response," the statement added.