European countries that are not hostile to Russia nevertheless admit that they cannot do without Russian energy resources. noted Putin. Especially Europe will not be able to reject Russian gas at this time.
“Her [газа] A reasonable substitute for Europe no longer exists. Yes, it is possible, but not available now. Everyone understands this, there is currently no free volume on the market and supplies that can be sent to Europe from other countries, primarily the United States, will cost consumers much more. Exactly sometimes. “They will affect people’s standard of living and the competitiveness of the European economy,” he said.
Putin added that if Western countries try to remove Russian suppliers from the market, it will reflect badly on the market as a whole and on the entire global economy. In particular, bad results await those who initiated the rejection of energy sources from Russia.
“The consequences of such a step can be very painful, and above all for those who initiated such a policy,” said Putin.
As the president pointed out, European countries have already caused an increase in gas prices with their talk of rejecting Russian supplies.
“European countries are constantly talking about rejecting Russian supplies, which destabilizes the market and inflates prices with their own hands. First of all, for our citizens,” he said.
Putin warned that Russia’s energy exports to the West will fall in the near future. Therefore, he said, Russia should reorient itself to other markets.
“Exports need to be diversified. <…> Therefore, it is important to consolidate the trend of recent years: to direct our exports step by step to the rapidly growing southern and eastern markets. To do this, it is necessary to identify important infrastructure facilities in the near future and start their construction,” he said.
It also announced the need to outline the benchmarks for the development of the Russian fuel and energy complex, correcting previous decisions. “Let me remind you that we discussed a detailed import substitution plan at the end of 2015 within the framework of the Fuel and Energy Complex Development Commission. I propose to see with what efficiency the adopted decisions work, what problems and problem areas still remain. Let’s take all these issues into account and refine our work, outline the reference points by which we will move in the development of our fuel and energy complex.”
The President recalled that he set the task of converting payments for Russian gas supplies into the national currency in order to gradually move away from the dollar and the euro. Now, as Putin noted, banks of “unfriendly countries” are delaying payments for Russian energy supplies.
“There are failures in payments for export deliveries of Russian energy resources. “Banks in these most hostile countries are delaying the transfer of payments.”
Earlier, the Dutch government announced that it would ban local companies from paying for Russian gas in rubles. The Dutch government believes that otherwise it will allow Russia to circumvent EU sanctions. “Dutch companies are not allowed to accept these terms,” said a spokesman for the country’s ministry of economy and climate policy.
Under Russia’s terms, foreign buyers will continue to pay for Russian gas in dollars and euros. But they will have to open foreign currency and ruble accounts with Gazprombank. Funds in these accounts cannot be frozen or confiscated. The buyer will transfer money to an exchange account in the currency specified in the gas supply contract. Then Gazprombank will receive rubles from the Moscow Exchange. This money is credited to the gas buyer’s ruble account. At the same time, gas prices do not change, they remain the same as in the concluded contracts.
“There is no risk of freezing funds if the payments go through Russian banks. A work plan was proposed – everyone held their position, but work continues, gas flows are preserved, ”says Marcel Salikhov, Head of the Institute of Energy and Finance.