World
Russia and West at odds over gas payments in roubles
Russia said on Monday it will not supply gas to Europe for free as it works out methods for accepting payments for its gas exports in roubles but G7 nations refused the demand.
At a meeting of European Union leaders on Friday, no common position emerged on Russia’s demand last week that “unfriendly” countries must pay in roubles, not euros, for its gas in the wake of the United States and European allies teaming up on a series of sanctions aimed at Russia, Reuters reported.
Concerns over security of supply were enhanced after the demand, with companies and EU nations scrambling to understand the ramifications.
The Russian central bank, the government and Gazprom (GAZP.MM), which accounts for 40% of European gas imports, should present their proposals for rouble gas payments to President Vladimir Putin by March 31.
“We are not going to supply gas for free, this is clear,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call. “In our situation, this is hardly possible and appropriate to engage in charity (with European customers).”
In a interview aired later on Monday with the American public broadcaster PBS, when asked whether gas would be turned off for non-payers, Peskov replied: “No payment – no gas.”
But he added that Russia is yet to take a final decision on how to respond should European countries refuse to pay in the Russian currency.
Meanwhile, energy ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations rejected the rouble payment demands, Germany economy and climate protection minister Robert Habeck said after talks with his counterparts, Reuters reported.
“All G7 ministers have agreed that this is a unilateral and clear breach of existing contracts,” he told reporters after a virtual conference with G7 energy ministers.
The ministers “underlined once again that the concluded contracts are valid and the companies should and must respect them … payment in roubles is unacceptable, and we call on the companies concerned not to comply with Putin’s demand,” he said.
Dutch and British wholesale gas prices rose by up to 20% on Monday on concerns about Russian gas supply.
The EU aims to cut its dependency on Russian gas by two-thirds this year and end Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027. Russian gas exports to the EU were around 155 billion cubic metres (bcm) last year.
On Friday, the United States said it will work to supply 15 bcm of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European Union this year.
However, the EU would struggle to replace all Russian gas exports in a short period of time, experts said.
Russian gas deliveries to Europe on three main pipeline routes were stable on Monday, with the Yamal-Europe pipeline continuing to flow eastwards from Germany into Poland, operator data showed.
Russia’s Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said it that it was continuing to supply natural gas to Europe via Ukraine in line with requests from European consumers.
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US Senate passes Russia sanctions championed by Graham; US House next
In a statement, the Ukrainian embassy in Washington welcomed passage, calling it “a timely and significant step that strengthens pressure on Russia.”
The U.S. Senate easily passed sweeping Russia sanctions legislation on Friday, advancing a long-delayed measure backed by late Senator Lindsey Graham and setting the stage for consideration by the House of Representatives within weeks, Reuters reported.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican who died last month, was among Kyiv’s most outspoken allies in Congress in its four-year-long war with Russia, and the bill aims to increase economic pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
It also includes expanded sanctions on Iran sought by President Donald Trump as lawmakers pushed for a vote on the measure well over a year since it was introduced in 2025.
The Senate’s Republican leaders had not brought the bill up because of resistance from Trump, who had kept decisions on sanctions at the White House, not Congress, since starting his second term in January 2025.
The Senate voted 86-11 to pass the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026,” to sanction Russian officials and authorize stiff tariffs on China, India and other countries to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas.
In a statement, the Ukrainian embassy in Washington welcomed passage, calling it “a timely and significant step that strengthens pressure on Russia.”
However, broad support may not be enough to secure House passage, with some lawmakers and industries wary that new tariff powers for Trump could raise costs for U.S. importers and consumers while exposing Republicans to political blowback.
Representatives Gregory Meeks of New York and Don Beyer of Virginia said in a statement they still had “fundamental concerns” about the tariff powers for Trump, who has made them a central piece of his “America First” approach to foreign policy, read the report.
“What the bill does grant … are sweeping new tariff authorities that the president could weaponize with abandon, as he has repeatedly done in the past,” said Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Beyer, the senior Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee.
Trump’s fellow Republicans control only slim majorities in both the House and Senate.
Only one Senate Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against the bill, likening tariffs to taxes on American consumers.
The chamber erupted into applause after Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, who was appointed to fill his seat, read out the final tally.
The Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by Paul and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon that would have removed the tariff powers.
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who also sought to change the tariff language, said he had received a written commitment from Trump’s U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, to put guardrails on the tariff authorities, Reuters reported.
If it is approved by the House and signed into law by Trump, the measure would allow the president to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that are major consumers of Russian energy, including India, Japan and some countries in the European Union, and leave it to his discretion to lift them.
The legislation’s backers insist that the tariffs are narrow enough that they would do their intended job of reducing Russian energy revenue that funds its war on Ukraine without negative consequences.
Supporters called the legislation the best opportunity to support Ukraine, and the strong bipartisan Senate vote provided momentum for it to pass the House after it returns from its summer recess on August 31.
Graham had announced shortly before his sudden death on July 11 that he and Trump agreed finally to move forward with the legislation.
The legislation lets the president impose targeted tariffs on imported goods from countries that buy the vast majority of Russian oil or gas and enable Russia’s evasion of sanctions.
The bill limits these tariffs to the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas and the top five countries that aid Russia’s energy sanctions evasion. The measure includes a provision to prevent a lapse in sanctions authority that restricts funding for Iranian energy and weapons.
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