Kremlin: payment by ruble as a condition for pumping of Russian gas to Poland and Bulgaria

Moscow, SANA-The Russian Kremlin has affirmed that gas payments in rubles will be a condition for continued supplies to Poland and Bulgaria.

”The requirement to pay for gas in rubles is not a blackmail, as Russia remains a reliable supplier of energy resources”, RT website quoted Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying to reporters on Wednesday.

Peskov indicated that gas buyers in unfriendly countries only need to open new accounts and there is no change in prices, pointing out that energy buyers have been notified in advance and for a sufficient period of the new payment terms.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the mechanism of natural gas payment supplied to unfriendly countries, including the European Union, in Russian rubles.

Manar Salameh/Mazen Eyon