The European Union is set to offer its gas importers a solution to avoid a breach of sanctions when buying fuel from Russia and still effectively satisfy President Vladimir Putin’s demands overpayment in rubles, APA reports citing Bloomberg.
In new guidance on gas payments, the European Commission plans to say that companies should make a clear statement that they consider their obligations fulfilled once they pay in euros or dollars, in line with existing contracts, according to people familiar with the matter.
If these conditions are met, the regulator will not regard the companies’ actions as a violation of sanctions.
A number of disagreements arose at the meeting on this issue. While Germany, Hungary, France, and Italy supported the proposed plan, but Poland still had questions about the legal side of the new decision, its representatives proposed to hold a meeting at the level of EU ambassadors.
Some countries were also dissatisfied with the fact that the new leadership does not give precise instructions on whether European companies can open ruble accounts in Gazprombank.
As the agency notes, this aspect is one of the key ones, since previously the creation of a ruble account was regarded as a violation of sanctions, although it was not recorded on paper.
Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that about 20 European companies have already opened accounts with Gazprombank JSC to pay for Russian gas supplies, another 14 have requested a list of documents that are necessary to open such accounts.
