Ukrainian FM urges EU countries not to pay for Russian oil and gas in rubles

24.03.2022, 13:37 en.interfax.com.ua

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on European states not to comply with Moscow's demands and not pay for the purchase of Russian oil and gas in rubles. "If any EU country bows to Putin’s humiliating demands to pay for oil and gas in rubles, it will be like helping Ukraine with one hand and helping Russians kill Ukrainians with the other," Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Thursday. He also urged "relevant countries to make a wise and responsible choice." The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that payment for Russian gas supplies for export in the so-called "unfriendly countries" is switched into Russian rubles. He instructed the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the government to determine within a week the order of operations for the acquisition of rubles on the domestic market of the Russian Federation by buyers of Russian gas.