Russian officials are making payment demands that people must pay in Rubles but due to sanctions that is proving to be difficult (and of course others just have common sense and a bit of morality here.) Russia has been strugglling to keep the ruble completely afloat and it is uncertain about the future of the country’s currency.
Despite claims from the Kremlin otherwise the Kremlin is using its resources both energy and gas to essentially blackmail its former European allies. Earlier this week, it was announced that Russia would cut off two NATO countries from gas amid reports that both countries have refused Russia ‘s demands to pay in rubles or else. Right now it appears both Bulgaria and Poland have enough resources to get by for a little while, though, the moves by Russia should be taken as a warning considering there still are so many countries that depend on Russia ‘s gazprom for their needs.
Depending on Russia ‘s state owned Gazprom has proved problematic for almost everyone involved. Following reports that Russi made the moves, European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen denounced Russia for blackmailing parts of Europe over their dependency on gazprom. According to official stats, Bulgaria gets abut 90% of its gas from Russia but that has since changed. Officials note that they’ve got enough resources to go around while they continue to shop around for a new supplier.
Poland on the other hand is well ahead of the game. Polish officials confirmed this week that they’ve got a massive reserve of about 80% stockpiled. Poland has actually been for the better part of a decade attempting to remove Russia as a major source of its energy and gas imports into the country. Those moves have proved successful so far and it is widely understood that Polish locals probably won’t experience many problems given Russia switching the power off.
As many other outlets have also noted the moves increase the liklihood that Russia will use the same tactics against others to get what they want. A key component of Russia ‘s blackmail efforts include that customers must pay in Rubles rather than Dollars or Euros presumably because they can’t actually use either currency outside of their own due to almost universal sanctions currently against the country as a result of their invasion of Ukraine.
Will there be more cutoffs?
Two sources familiar with European imports and exports including those of energy and gas confirmed a report initially by Bloomberg. Sources say that Russia is expected to issue more cutoffs towards the middle and end of May as further payments would become due on gas and energy accounts. It is expected to widen in Europe as Russia reaches well beyond Ukraine.
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