Paying for natural gas in rubles will not change anything

Europe imports large amounts of Russian natural gas, even today, despite the war in Ukraine. According to officials, around 60% of imports are paid in euros, and the rest in dollars. However, Putin wants to change that by requiring foreign gas importers to purchase rubles and use them to pay for the natural gas.

   If Russia -finally- requires such trade option, it means that importers would have to find a bank that would exchange euros and dollars for rubles. But as long as Russian banks have been either blocked or cut off from the SWIFT messaging system, this situation makes huge barriers on international payments.

   Is this move a real threat for Europe? Absolutely not. Global energy markets cannot be corrupted by using any currency restrictions, as it is not the main problem anyway. States and individuals can exchange to any currency almost instantly everywhere on planet (see forex trading).

   On the other hand, reducing the available amount of natural gas to Europe and other markets would be the main problem. Given the needs of Europe for Russian natural gas to heat buildings, generate part of electricity, and fuel industry, Russia can push forward for new deals.

   Europe imports from Russia 40% of its gas total imports and 25% of its oil. Europe paying hundreds of millions of euros per day to Russia for fossil fuels. The main gas exporter of Russia, state-owned Gazprom, has more than 40 long-term gas agreements with European counterparties.

   An interruption in natural gas supply will be critical for the Russian economy as well. Europe is highly connected to the pipelines of Russia, so if the latter decrease natural gas supplies it means that a great amount of income will be cut off too. Storage capacity for natural gas and oil in Russia is not unlimited, hence if Russia stops giving goods to other countries, then it will reduce production to a minimum state, meaning that the economic crisis will be even bigger for Moscow.