Rule change may be possible without breaching penalties, says European Commission
Companies in the European Union may be able to comply with Russia’s proposed system of paying for gas in rubles without breaching the bloc’s sanctions against Moscow, the European Commission said on Friday.
At the same time, EU leaders say it is not yet clear how such a system would work.
“The procedure for derogation from the requirements of the decree is not yet clear”, says the document issued by the commission.
In March, the Russian government issued a decree requiring European energy companies to open accounts at Gazprombank, where payments in euros or dollars would be converted into rubles.
The move came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that hostile countries, which have imposed economic sanctions on Moscow over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, pay for Russian gas in rubles.
Last week, the EC said paying for Russian gas in rubles by European Union buyers, as demanded by Moscow, would breach the EU sanctions regime.
“This mechanism would lead to a violation of existing EU restrictive measures adopted with respect to Russia, its government, the Central Bank of Russia and their proxies,” an internal memo, seen by Reuters, reads.
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