The speaker of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, proposed to expand the list of export goods for which payment can be taken in rubles. He offered to sell not only gas for rubles, but also fertilizers, grain, oil, coal, metals, and timber.
In his Telegram channel, Volodin called on European politicians to “stop looking for excuses why their countries cannot pay in rubles.”
“They should have thought about this before. They themselves have done everything to undermine confidence in the dollar and the euro, so that Russia refuses to deal with payments in these currencies […] European countries have all the market opportunities to pay in rubles. There is no tragedy in this […] Gas is produced in difficult natural climatic conditions. This is the hardest job. If you want to get gas, look for rubles […] By the policy of sanctions, trying to isolate us, you have isolated yourself. It is necessary to be responsible for the decisions taken,” Volodin stated.
Earlier, Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, demanded that payments for Russian gas supplies to unfriendly countries be converted into rubles. His press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, explained that in case of refusal to pay for gas in rubles, there will be no free gas supplies.
“Companies should understand that they just need to buy rubles for their currency – euros, dollars – and pay for gas in rubles,” Peskov noted.
Ru-Main, 30.03.2022
Source: Interfax
