Loading ...Europe pursues unified Russian gas payment response as supply threat eases — is Putin simply crossing t’s and dotting i’s?
A crunch point appeared to be in the offing when Moscow issued a decree on Thursday requiring foreign buyers of Russian gas to open rouble accounts in state-run Gazprombank from Friday or else risk being cut-off.
The Kremlin said on Friday it would it would not immediately turn off gas exports to Europe as payments on deliveries due after April 1 come in the second half of this month and May.
With weeks left before bills are due, governments in Europe, which relies on Russia for more than a third of its gas supply, were talking to their energy companies about how to pay them.