Armenia starts paying for Russian gas in rubles
Armenia has started making payments for Russian gas in rubles, Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan told RBC, TASS reported on Friday.
"As far as I know, the last few payments were made in rubles, but at the appropriate rate," he said.
The minister specified that the pricing takes place in dollars, but payment is made in rubles.
"Indeed, Gazprom's contract for the supply of gas to Armenia allows paying for gas in rubles for several years now, and they use this opportunity," Gazprom's official representative Sergey Kupriyanov confirmed to RBC.
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin Putin ordered that unfriendly states must pay for Russian gas in rubles. He said Moscow would refuse to accept payment under gas contracts with those states in "compromised" currencies, meaning dollars and euros. He ordered the government to instruct Gazprom to make the necessary changes to the existing contracts. On March 31, Putin signed a decree that lays out a new procedure for paying for Russian gas supplies by buyers from unfriendly countries.