Moscow has threatened to cut gas supplies to “unfriendly” countries that refuse to pay in rubles.
Hungary said it was ready on Wednesday to pay for Russian gas in rubles if necessary, unlike the other countries of the European Union (EU) which refused this request from Moscow. “We don’t see any problem in paying in rubles. If that’s what the Russians want, we’ll pay in rublessaid Prime Minister Viktor Orban at a press conference in Budapest.
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Moscow has threatened to cut off gas supplies to countries “unfriendlywho would refuse to pay in roubles, a measure that would mainly affect the heavily dependent EU. Hungary is the first country to break the ranks of European unity on the subject, the other countries having refused any payment in rubles to Moscow, which seeks in this way to support its currency. Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had argued that the EU had no role to play in gas supply, “governed by a bilateral contract“.
Heavy dependence on Russian energy supplies
“The desire of the European Commission to have a common response from importing countries does not seem necessary to us.“, did he declare. “A technical solutionto implement the conversion must be found by the first payment obligation to Russian giant Gazprom at the end of May, he said, when Hungary is heavily dependent on Russian energy supplies.
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The European Commission proposed Tuesday to the Twenty-Seven to toughen the sanctions against Moscow, by stopping their purchases of Russian coal, which represent 45% of imports from the EU, and by closing European ports to Russian ships. But a possible embargo on Russian oil (25% of European oil purchases) and Russian gas (45% of EU gas imports) is the subject of bitter discussions between member states. In addition to Budapest, Berlin and Vienna have publicly expressed their reluctance.