The Russian demand for rubles from “unfriendly” countries in payment for natural gas has put Germany between a rock and a hard place. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:
Update (1140ET): It looks like Moscow is making headway with its demands that “hostile states” (aka its European customers) start paying for their gas in rubles. According to Bloomberg, Putin and German Chancellor Scholz have agreed to let ‘experts on both sides’ discuss the feasibility of Russia’s demand that Germany switches to rubles for its gas payments, according to an emailed statement from the Kremlin.
Both leaders have agreed that switching to ruble payments shouldn’t deteriorate contract terms for European importers of Russian gas (meaning that the price should remain stable regardless of which currency is used for payment and settlement). Putin also updated Scholz on the state of talks between Russia and Ukraine.
But Scholz isn’t the only European leader who appears to be seriously considering Putin’s demands. Italian leader Mario Draghi is also reportedly considering Putin’s demands.
