As of now there won't be shut-offs for non-payment in roubles but that seems to be a bow to the reality of setting up the mechanism of a non-sanctioned Russian bank [Gazprombank] to be the agent/recipient rather than a change in the official Russian position.
From Sputnik:
President Putin signed a decree on Thursday ordering countries which have slapped sanctions on Russia to pay for natural gas in rubles starting Friday. The ultimatum split Europe, with the EU’s G7 members publicly vowing not to pay, while privately, some, including Germany, have inquired about how such the payment system would operate.
Officials in Austria and Hungary say there’s no alternative to Russian natural gas, with Budapest stressing that more costly American-sourced LNG is not a realistic substitute.“Replacing cheap Russian gas with expensive American gas” is an “absurd” proposal, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Kossuth Radio on Friday.“It’s not that we’ll put on an extra sweater in the evening and turn the heating down a little or paying a few extra forints for gas. The fact is that if energy supplies don’t come from Russia there won’t be any energy in Hungary,” Orban stressed.The politician noted that 85 percent of Hungary’s gas supplies and 64 percent of the country’s oil comes from Russia, and that geography puts limits on Budapest’s ability to diversify its sources of energy.Austrian energy giant OMV CEO Alfred Stern echoed Orban’s concerns, saying that there was no LNG alternative for Austria....
....MUCH MORE
