Rouble With A Capital T

at

Russia is ‘changing the payment mechanism’ for certain exports, starting with natural gas tomorrow

This afternoon.

Via Russian state-owned RT:

Countries globally may soon have to create ruble reserves within their domestic economies if they wish to continue to buy Russian gas, as Moscow switches payments to its national currency, Ilya Ilyin, the head of the banking and financial markets analysis department at Promsvyazbank said on Thursday.

In the event of a transition to gas payments in rubles, the partner countries will probably create a certain fund of ruble reserves to facilitate payments,” the expert said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that the country is changing the payment mechanism for certain exports, starting with natural gas on April 1. The measure effects countries which have imposed sanctions on Russia in connection with Ukraine and froze Moscow’s foreign reserves.

The ‘unfriendly’ states Putin referred to are the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Switzerland, the 27 nations of the European Union, and a number of smaller countries….

Countries will need to create ruble reserves to buy Russian gas (RT)

Meanwhile…

…via Irish state-owned RTÉ:

Russia supplies about a third of Europe’s gas, so energy is the most powerful lever at Putin’s disposal as he tries to hit back against sweeping Western sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine.

His decision to enforce rouble payments has boosted the Russian currency, which fell to historic lows after the February 24 invasion but has since recovered.

Western companies and governments have rejected the move as a breach of existing contracts, which are set in euros or dollars.

France’s economy minister said France and Germany were preparing for a possible scenario that Russian gas flows could be halted – something that would plunge Europe into a full-blown energy crisis.

Russia will enforce rouble payments for gas from Friday – Putin (RTE)

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95 thoughts on “Rouble With A Capital T

  1. Ian - oG

    Will he accept little metal dogs or top hats as currency seeing as we are in Monopoly money world?

    1. Dinkum

      Well the west did play sanctions and frankly he is playing the same game.
      Beggars cannot be choosers ,and let’s face it we either buy it or not .
      As for us compared to mainland Europe
      We get most of our energy needs through the UK
      Mind you there is Venezuela the country with the biggest oil reserves in the world .
      But we cannot upset the yanks by breaking their sanctions against Venezuela.
      Maybe a good thing might be reopen the decommissioned turf power stations and up our own production of gas in the corroborate field and kinsale field or are we exporting that to Europe while we shiver at home ?

      1. K.Cavan

        The problem is that the turf-fired stations, here & the coal & oil-fired ones in the rest of Europe that have been decommissioned are dead & gone. Same with the nuclear stations that have been decommissioned, we don’t even possess the expertise to build new ones, nobody was doing degrees to get into an industry that was being downsized.
        We are being led into disaster by idiots & it won’t stop until we do something about it. Even without this ridiculous sanctions regime, we were heading into a dire energy situation & if the power goes down in one European country, the grid will go down, right scross Europe. If it’s a blackout, rather than a brownout, it would be a week before everything was up and running again, leading to supply chain difficulties & food shortages.

    2. K.Cavan

      You reckon the Dollar & Euro aren’t worthless pieces of unbacked Fiat Money, Ian? You’re in a Monoply money world, all right.

          1. Cian

            No.

            Western companies and governments have rejected the move as a breach of existing contracts, which are set in euros or dollars.

          2. E'Matty

            @Cian..eh, Russia can simply stop supplying gas. A buyer doesn’t get to dictate to the service what they will or won’t accept. Western Europe’s economies will collapse rapidly, starting with Germany, if both sides stick to their guns and supplies stop. There is no short term means of plugging that gap. It’s a check-mate from Russia.

          3. E'Matty

            @Cian..and Russia can claim the sanctions against them are unlawful so a breach of contract. Not that contractual terms can hold Russia to account now anyway given how little regard the West has shown for them. Russia, having the gas supplies, have Europe by the balls. The European leaders can shout all they want and say they will refuse to pay in roubles but they cannot force Russia to supply that gas. They’re already using every financial means they can to attack Russia. Russia has nothing to lose now, and everything to gain. They’ve been planning this for months. Do you think they didn’t war game every move the West has played so far?

          4. E'Matty

            @Nigel. You still don’t get it. Putin inherited those oligarchs from the Yeltsin years, and to gain and maintain power he had to come to an arrangement with them. Stay out of domestic politics or I imprison you. He has no love for these oligarchs, outside of his own close circle of “friends” he’s enriched to build his own power base. The West had done Putin a massive favour by effectively bankrupting many of these other oligarchs. He couldn’t get rid of their power on his own, but now they are sinking to irrelevance.

            Just look too at how Russia stored its wealth. All domestically held reserves are in gold. All overseas wealth is in foreign currencies. They keep the gold, whilst the West seizes the depreciating currencies.
            It is prepared for precisely this scenario.

            Russia is pivoting East and the West just made it easier by providing a foreign ebeny blame for the hit the Russian Middle class is undoubtedly taking. They are now looking East to fill that vacuum. India and China are notable by their positions on this conflict. Even South Africa is not falling in behind the West. The Russians are chess masters. Do you seriously think when commencing this invasion that they didn’t war game every conceivable scenario and prepare a response that enables them to capitalise?

          5. anti bot

            You still don’t get it. How many innocent people have been killed by a military power invading a smaller sovereign country?

          6. K.Cavan

            You don’t get it, Aunty Bot, Ukraine was the Wild West, two coups in the last 8 years, numerous elections, Crimea voting, then taking themselves out of the country, while it’s killed 14,000 of its own citizens in an ongoing civil war.
            It’s both the poorest & most corrupt country in Europe, used as a cross between a casino & a money laundering operation by oligarchs from East & West. Zekensky’s Government includes Nazis at all levels, including as Minister For Defence.
            It was no sovereign country. That’s complete nonsense.

          7. Nigel

            ‘He couldn’t get rid of their power on his own, but now they are sinking to irrelevance.’

            The West damaged their finances, not their power in Russia. There’s a LOT of (weirdly) wishful thinking going on here. I expect everyone will muddle through, but divesting from Russian fossil fuels will accelerate.

            ‘It is prepared for precisely this scenario.’

            This is the sort of thing they used to say abiut Trump….

            ‘Do you seriously think when commencing this invasion that they didn’t war game every conceivable scenario and prepare a response that enables them to capitalise?’

            They might have war-gamed loads of scenarios. It seems likely to me that they got all sorts of starting assumptions wrong.

          8. Nigel

            ‘And why would they lose it Nigel?’

            They probably won’t – just probably not in roubles.

          9. E'Matty

            No Nigel. For many of those oligarchs, their prime wealth is kept outside of Russia. They wanted it as far from Putin’s reach as possible. His personal hold on Russia has increased not decreased as a result of the West’s sanctions. Now, those oligarchs have seen that wealth frozen and seized.

          10. Nigel

            But that wealth comes from plundering Russia’s resources, sucking up public wealth and general corruption. Putin buys them off, and he doesn’t do it because he likes them.

        1. K.Cavan

          I’ll take your assurances with a pinch of salt, Nigel & it’ll be a waste of salt. The EU has already made a deal for 14 Million cubic metres of gas from the US, unfortunately, 155 Billion M3 of Europe’s total requirement of 500 Billion M3 comes from Russia.
          We will be paying for our gas in Roubles, making it into an internationally traded currency with an inbuilt constant demand. The EU’s claims of breach of contract are ridiculous, since, by seizing the assets of their Central Bank Europe has defaulted on money owed to Russia, a far more serious act than changing the currency a bill needs to be paid in. We stole their money & still think we can hold them to tiny details in a contract, think again.
          Of course, nobody who works for the EU & is involved in these idiotic decisions is going to go without heat, so things are not as bad as they might seem.
          Von der Leyen must go. The German government will fall apart fairly soon, too, if this is not resolved.

    1. E'Matty

      That’ll happen anyway, but can it happen quick enough to avoid the collapse of Western Europe’s economies if Russia sticks to its vow to only accept payment in roubles? Putin can collapse Europe in a week if he wants, simply by cutting off the gas with immediate effect.

      There is no means to plug that gap in the short term. The German’s have essentially admitted they’re screwed if the gas stops flooding from Russia anytime soon.

      Anyway, it’s all theatre. Just psychologically prepping the herd for what has already been decided.

          1. jonjoker

            I think the question is – what does Russia import, and from where.
            If the answer is that it can do without things from the sanctioning countries (and I’d guess this has been factored into their activities) or find similar elsewhere (eg China, which produces most consumer goods globally), and if Russians can continue to holiday in India or Turkey, then they are laughing. At least in the short term.
            Now, where did we misplace that liquified gas terminal of ours?

          2. Nigel

            The Russian people are already downtrodden, opressed, plagued with alcoholism and dying young, I’m sure Putin can lay off a lot more misery on them.

        1. E'Matty

          @Nigel. Yes. Russia’s balance of payments and foreign debt levels are manageable. Oil and gas isn’t just for heating homes you know? Entire economies depend on them..

          1. E'Matty

            @Nigel. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/mar/31/why-is-vladimir-putin-demanding-russian-gas-is-paid-for-in-roubles

            “Plan could be extended to include exports of oil, grain, fertilisers, coal, metals and other key commodities”

            “Germany, which relies on Russia for 40% of its gas supplies, is not taking any chances, warning large industrial gas users that a standoff is possible and rationing is one possible outcome.”

            “One example is palladium, which car companies use to make catalytic converters. About 40% of the world’s supply of the metal comes from Russia and 90% of Russia’s output goes to the car industry, says Paul Watters, the head of corporate research at S&P Global Ratings.”

          2. Nigel

            ‘Russia’s balance of payments and foreign debt levels are manageable.’

            Putin doesn’t care about that. He runs his country through pay-offs to oligarchs, warlords, generals, regional strong-men, gangsters. The whole house of cards depends on it.

          3. E'Matty

            Nigel, whether he cares about that or not is irrelevant. It’s an economic reality. It’s those realities that will dictate how this goes, not the delusions of one individual or another. It’s clear though that you have absolutely no understanding of economics or its pivotal importance.

          4. Nigel

            What happens to Putin if enough oligarchs misbehave?

            That guy in Chechnya, for a start.

            I’m suggesting the cold hard reality of Russian economics might be quite brutal.

          5. Me So Harney

            They all get thrown in jail. This has happened before.

            You clearly don’t know much about Russian economics.

        2. K.Cavan

          Russia needs money but China, India, Brazil & South Africa, together are multiples of the size of Europe’s market, the Saudis & Venezuela have refused to pump more oil, so the increase in the sales & price of oil will cover Russia’s take from Europe, easily.
          Russia is winning tbe sanctions war, just as easily as it’s winning the actual war, because Putin is an intelligent man, who has the wellbeing of his country & his people foremost in his mind, while our lot can’t define what a woman is & actually viscerally hate large swathes of their own population, who they simply want dead. They don’t care whether you freeze or starve or die from the side effects of experimental drugs, once you die, in large numbers.
          The economy of Europe is about to go down for the third & final time, if the gas is cut off.

          1. Nigel

            ‘Russia is winning tbe sanctions war, just as easily as it’s winning the actual war,’

            Yes, I expect that holds true, in its way, though stripped of your histrionic pro-Russian spin, it’s not easy and it ain’t winning.

          2. jonjoker

            “Putin … has the wellbeing of his country & his people foremost in his mind”
            That I wouldn’t be so sure about; he may, just may, have the global standing of Russia in mind, though.

            “while our lot … actually viscerally hate large swathes of their own population”
            Yes, this does seem to be the case, and they do seem to want a lot of us trodden into the ground, or at least reduced to serfdom.

            We are heading towards a new totalitarianism here in the west, democratic in form but where the people we elect have very little power.
            In the EU the governments of the smaller states, and even states as large as Spain and Italy, in general are reduced to applying rules made in Brussels by bureaucrats, often at the behest of large corporations, Berlin, Frankfurt and to some extent Paris.

    2. Dinkum

      Nigel the trouble is that they have mainland Europe by the balls.
      Are we supposed to just live with power cuts like Sri Lanka for the next few years until we have alternative options.
      Because if we do not have it then that’s what it’s going to be like.

      Seems OPEC is not playing ball as is other oil and gas producing nations and they are all coining it in
      Seems governments can lock us all up during covid but are powerless to stop the price gouging going on

      1. Nigel

        Actually they’re not powerless. They choose to be. They could always nationalise the power utilities!

        1. K.Cavan

          You really don’t get it, Nigel, do you? We’re screwed, there is no way out of this but divvy up in Roubles & concede that we’ve handed another win to Russia.
          The alternative is that we shut down most of Europe’s industry & start chopping up our furniture.
          Certain people will be quite happy with that, coincidentally. It’ll hasten the ongoing, deliberate collapse of the Dollar & the Euro, forcing us into The Great Reset, Digital IDs for the food & fuel ratioining & CBDCs, the latter spelling the end of freedom in the West.
          Unless we throw these bums out on the street.

    1. Nigel

      Here’s something (else) to hate the US for – in the 1980s oil companies were actually resigned to reducing oil production and developing cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy, becasue thhey new about the effects of all that carbon in the atmosphere and figured there was NO WAY they’d be allowed to keep doing it, but Reagan and the Republicans told them not to, to keep producing oil, never mind them hippie tree huggers. Depressing isn’t it?

      1. bisted

        …wasn’t sleepy Joe over in EU last week with his neat idea of substituting Russian gas with the yankee fracked variety…old Ronnie didn’t have a monopoly in socking it to the tree huggers…

        1. Nigel

          There’ll have to be a transition, even at the most optimistic path away from fossil fuels. Wide-eyed and optimistic…

          1. bisted

            …transition…you sound like our local tree hugger flying his green flag of convenience…noddy Ryan was today talking about exceptional times…nobody does blah blah blah better than Ryan…

          2. Dinkum

            So the world just stops as transition is allowed to happen
            When people cannot work due to no energy or heat their homes
            We all suck it up standing unified against those pesky commies
            I assume they really will give a rats bottom and celebrate how commendable we all are.
            Maybe governments should introduce a tax offset against energy and fuel against our taxes
            We used to get mortgage relief and in business one can offset all one’s costs against income
            That would be a great thing to show how government supports us through this time
            And help people
            But hey Nigel it’s all about price gouging in reality and a government that dose not govern for the benefit of the people
            Oh shit I am sounding like a leftie

          3. Nigel

            It’s like the fossil fuel industry are basically robber barons and being dependent on them is like being dependent on a thousand little Putins.

        2. Dinkum

          And of course it will be supplied at a premium price as American oil and gas laughs all the way to the bank
          Yankee’s really know how to price gouge

      2. K.Cavan

        Yet you, Nigel, & your fellow SJW-types are religiously dedicated to the Woke Dogma being financed & pushed by that same class of Oligarchs. They’ve completely conned you & the rest of the poor, naive fools. They stitched you up a treat & you won’t realise it til it’s far too late. Get in your pod & eat the bugs, you’ll own nothing & be happy.
        Depressing, isn’t it?

        1. jonjoker

          KC, I don’t know why you think Niggle is a SJ warrior, he seems to be more of a rightwing mouthpiece to me.

          1. Nigel

            It’s because I don’t hate trans people and think climate change is real. Otherwise I’m to the right of Atilla The Hun, obviously.

  2. Maura

    Both of you are right; doesn’t matter that one called himself a ‘Republican’ and the other goes by ‘Democrat’ – the language of the two of them, as well as all other US Presidents, is petrodollar.

  3. Jo

    People do not realise how much Russia is winning this war,

    This war is against the US not Ukraine.

    Petrodollar is looking weaker every day.

    1. SOQ

      +1

      You’d think that closing fast food joints and not selling designer tat handbags was equivalent to Russia switching off Europe’s gas the way the media have been yapping on.

      1. jonjoker

        We’re running out of petrol, wheat and cooking oil.
        Russia has lost McDonalds, Starbucks, Zara and Netflix.

        Surely we’re winning the war?

  4. ce

    HAHAHAHA

    Anyway, stabilizing the Rouble only took extreme capital controls and 20% interest rates…

    1. SOQ

      And of course Russia never figured that would happen before moving on Ukraine?

      Putin is a Chess Master apparently- Biden on the other hand, has trouble figuring which foot to put next.

      1. ce

        Putin has been completely misled by those closet too him — they didn’t see this coming — he’s mid-purge trying to get things back on track. No doubt, he may get things back on track… but the Russian economy is toast in the short and medium term, EU has finally woken up to the need to get off oil and gas, China will buy from them but this won’t make up the loss and it makes Russia an vassal state.

        Long way to go, but loosing 20% (8 out of 20 starting generals!!!) of your invading army capabilities in a month and destroying the country next door… doesn’t matter if they ultimately take all or part of Ukraine.. at best it’s a Pyrrhic victory and the only thing Putin gets is total control of the Russian population… but at the price of being a Chinese Vassal …

        It’s not about Biden, it’s about Putin…

      2. Nigel

        He’s fecked his economy and his army and his reputation as cunning and unstoppable, united the west against him and he can’t even propaganda properly. Good job.

        1. Me So Harney

          He’s neutralised the nazi threat, taken the labs, achieved all his goals, using junk artillery and caucus conscripts, cheapest operation ever with minimal loss of civilian life in comparison to recent NATO invasions.

          Who needs propoganda when your winning.

          1. Nigel

            Bet he killed more civlilians and non-Nazi military than he did Nazis.

            The labs were irrelevant until they became a propaganda thing.

            He has shown his military is junk and full of poorly trained badly lead conscripts?

            ‘Minimal’ loss of life?

            When this is winning you need propaganda badly.

          2. Me So Harney

            No idea, given the propoganda that will be very difficult to verify either way.

            Not true, just not covered by legacy media.

            https://eurasianet.org/armenia-to-open-doors-of-us-built-biolabs-to-russia

            See above, how to diplomatically resolve a similar problem.

            He has shown what he can do with surplus to requirement, soon to be decommissioned junk and foreign conscripts costing pittens to the Russian exchequer.

            Minimal loss of life COMPARED to recent NATO/US invasions.

            He’s winning and doesn’t need propoganda.

          3. Nigel

            It’s really not a great performance by a supposedly modern military, trying to spin it as such is kind of painful.

          4. K.Cavan

            Absolute nonsense, Nigel, where are you getting your information from? I don’t watch the news, instead, last night, I listened to my favourite South American, broadcasting live, from Karkhov. Avoiding civilian casualties have been foremost in Russia’s plans, they’re deep inside territory that’s populated by a majority of Russian speakers.

        1. Maura

          That +1 was for SOQ’s comment at 7.15 above; however, I owe Nigel a +1 for his comment earlier on the OPW 190 trees article – ‘friggin’ insult’ (Nigel).

      3. anti bot

        Go on the nordies. You forgot to call him sleepy Joe. Do you wet yourself when Trump is on TV?

  5. Kim The Cardassian

    All the Putin fans are dopes. Did you not read the fine print? Its all postering by Russia. They’re still allowing Euro/Dollar payments if its paid to one particular bank.

    All this is doing is 2 things. Short term, the EU will inevitably approach purchasing gas from Russia similar to what happened with the vax. It will reduce the the cost for the EU.

    Long term its just going to accelerate the EU saying bye bye to Russian gas.

    BYE PUTIN!

    1. Me So Harney

      “Long term..”

      Whatever.. In the meantime (reality) the EU will have to pay in roubles.

      Its simple Kim.

    2. K.Cavan

      You’re just spoofing now, Kim, you sound pretty desperate & so you should. US gas, to replace Russian gas will need ships & port facilities across Europe to be built & end up costing up to 20 times what Russian gas does, even if they could produce even 20% of what we need, which they can’t. TINA, as Thatcher said, there is no alternative.
      The EU will pay, one way or the other. Rage as much as you like, it matters not.

    1. K.Cavan

      I wonder who they’re delivering them to, there is no functional government in Libya, since it was destroyed as part of The Bush Doctrine of “regime change” & the brutal murder of Gaddafi. Right now, there is a civil war in Lebanon that our media have decided we don’t need to know about. They have encased us in a fantasy world & most people have no idea what’s going on in the Real World.

      1. jonjoker

        Libya was destroyed under Obama’s watch, with help from Cameron and Blair.
        Although the regime change had, as you correctly state, been operative under Bush.
        It started long before though, just they previously called them coups d’etat or military juntas.

  6. SailorGerry

    Lot of chatter about the Russians not having the plan go their way, but from a NWO perspective, the financial demolition of the West is absolutely required to usher in Klaus Schwab great reset.

    Lot of dead people and misery to help speed up the CBDC and help implement a global tyranny.

    The Russians were pushed into their response, which is the devastation we see in Ukraine.

    Maybe the the people that guide the WEF, Chatham House, the CFR, the Fabian Society, and all the other “think tanks” are the ones playing 4D chess, as most Westerner’s are worked up about the next thing to be outraged by……

    Whatever can be won before the May 9th will be celebrated in Russia, as their troops return home and this security operation ends, that is my best guess.

    The damage to the Western economies is required for the reset, including the death of the dollar as the reserve currency, Mr. Putin is doing his part, by design or of necessity I cannot tell….

  7. Dr.Fart

    switch to batteries for energy. just thought of it there. why not? then collect all the used ones and launch them into Russia. let them deal with them.

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