The European Commission on Thursday warned buyers of Russian gas they could breach sanctions if they converted gas payments into roubles, as officials struggled to clarify the EU's stance on Moscow's payments scheme, which has sowed confusion in the bloc.
cut supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday after they refused to pay for gas in roubles, marking Moscow's toughest response yet to sanctions imposed by the West over the conflict in Ukraine.
Speaking at a briefing on Thursday a senior EU official said that if EU buyers declare their payments for gas are completed once the payment has been made in euros and before it is converted into roubles, sanctions would have been respected. "What we cannot accept is that companies are obliged to open a second account and that between the first and second account, the amount in euros is in the full hands of the Russian authorities and the Russian Central Bank, and that the payment is only complete when it is converted into roubles," the senior EU official said.Opening a roubles account at Gazprombank in itself may breach the EU sanctions, the official added, without providing a conclusive assessment of that.
Officials also said countries disagreed on whether sending euros to Gazprombank that would then be converted into roubles by a Russian bank would amount to a breach of sanctions, as the Commission has said.
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