The measure was announced hours after the same decision was made with the Netherlands. Importers refuse to pay for fuel in Russian currency as required by the Kremlin
(Reuters)
The Danish energy company Orsted declared on Tuesday that Russian gas company Gazprom Export will cut off gas supplies to Denmark on June 1, after the Danish company refused to pay in rubles.
“As there is no gas pipeline going directly from Russia to Denmark, Russia will not be able to directly cut off the gas supply to Denmark, so Denmark will still be able to receive gas. However, this means that gas for Denmark must be bought, to a greater extent, on the European gas market,” Orsted said in a statement.
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Gas accounts for 18% of the energy consumed annually in Denmark.
This Tuesday, Gazprom confirmed that it has “completely” cut off gas supplies to the Netherlands, also for not having paid in rubles for his April bill through the GasTerra company.
The Russian state company had already cut off gas to Poland, Bulgaria and Finland for the same reason. The move responds to international sanctions on Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, including the freezing of foreign currency assets held abroad.
Gazprom logo in Saint Petersburg (Reuters)
The scheme devised by the president of Russia,Vladimir Putin, in order to avoid Western sanctions, requires foreign clients to open two special accounts at Gazprombank.
In one they must enter the money for received Russian gas in euros or dollars, which is then converted into rubles on the Moscow Stock Exchange and transferred to the second account in the national currency of Russia.
Gazprom recalled that “payments for gas supply from April 1 must be made in rubles using new details, of which the contractors were informed in a timely manner.”
Faced with Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Bulgaria and Finland, which refuse to accept the payment scheme proposed by Russia, more than 20 companies have opened special accounts with Gazprombank, among them the Italian Eni, the German Uniper consortium and the French Engie, according to the official agency TASS.
(With information of AFP and EFE)