‘No ruble payment, no gas’ – Peskov

Russia does not intend to engage in charity and supply its natural gas to Europe for free. Moscow will consider the situation and make further decisions if the EU refuses to pay for these supplies in rubles, said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, during a broadcast on American PBS television.

“I don’t know what will happen when they refuse this possibility. Once we know the final decision, we will examine what can be done. However, we are certainly not going to engage in charity in this regard and send free gas to Western Europe,” said the official representative of the Russian leader, commenting on Western countries' statements that they do not intend to pay for Russian gas in rubles.

“No payment, no gas,” Peskov warned.

“Of course, we wouldn’t want to see that in our reality,” said Peskov in response to the host's remark that Germany and several other countries, which have been key buyers of Russian gas for a long time, are now talking about abandoning blue fuel.

Peskov stated that Western states have actually unleashed a large-scale economic war against Russia. On March 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government, the Bank of Russia, and Gazprom to take measures to receive payments in rubles for gas from unfriendly countries by March 31.