Slovenian PM: No one in Europe will pay Russia for gas in rubles
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša said no European country will pay Russia for gas in rubles, Evropeyskaya Pravda reported. The remarks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia will demand “unfriendly” countries pay for gas with Russian rubles.
“I have decided to implement a set of measures to transfer payments for our gas supplies to unfriendly countries into Russian rubles," Putin stated.
Speaking ahead of the EU Summit in Brussels, Janša explained, “I don’t think anyone in Europe really knows what the ruble looks like. No one will pay in rubles.”
The European Union currently gets 40% of its natural gas from Russia.
The Slovenian PM has repeatedly called for the EU to decrease its reliance on Russian energy since Moscow launched an invasion of Ukraine on February 24th.
"Today, I think, we will officially reaffirm our commitment that the EU should reduce its dependence on Russian energy as soon as possible. It won't happen overnight, my country is also partially dependent, but we support it. As soon as possible means within the next month, otherwise we will be giving money to the Russian military machine,” Janša added.
European gas prices jumped 30% on Wednesday after Putin made his announcement. At the same time, the ruble rose to a three-week high against the dollar. The ruble is now down more than 22% since Russia launched the invasion.