Brussels: French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday rejected a request by Russian President Vladimir Putin for Europe to pay for gas in rubles, as he accused Moscow of trying to circumvent sanctions over the war in Ukraine. Macron told reporters after the EU summit in Brussels that the Russian move “is not in line with what was signed and I do not see why we will implement it.” Putin made the request this week as Moscow struggles to support its economy in the face of debilitating Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine. Macron said “we are continuing the analysis work” after the Kremlin maneuver. However, he insisted “all the texts that have been signed are clear: it is prohibited. Therefore, European players who buy gas and are on European soil must do so in euros.” “Therefore, it is not possible today to do what is required and it is not conventional,” he said. The French leader said he believed Moscow was using the move as a “mechanism to circumvent” EU sanctions against it for its attack on Ukraine. Germany, the big buyer of natural gas, denounced the move, and Chancellor Olaf Solz reiterated on Friday that the contracts clearly defined how to pay for gas. Europe is trying to reduce its dependence on Russian gas. It continues to channel hundreds of millions of euros every day into Moscow into energy payments, which are currently outside the scope of sanctions. Some EU countries have called on the bloc to ban Moscow’s major energy exports, but the move has so far been blocked by countries, including Germany, which remain very cautious about the cost of cutting the cable. (Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is being published by a synergy stream.)
