You have to pay to Russian banks now!
The Presidential Decree published today explaining exactly how to sell and pay for Russian gas was predictably misinterpreted.
The task, first of all, was to transfer all mutual settlements from the American and European control zones to the Russian zone. There is a need to transfer financial transactions to Russian jurisdiction in order to eliminate the risks of payment disruptions and blocking of Russian accounts.
That’s exactly what was done.
For Europeans, of course, it is technically incomprehensible, difficult and undesirable to exchange euros for rubles. Therefore, they were offered an option: they open an account with the Russian Gazprombank, payments will be received in foreign currency, converted at the exchange rate of the Moscow Exchange and transferred to the accounts of counterparties in the same Gazprombank, and from there they will be received as payment.
That is, the Russian side thus guarantees that Gazprom will receive the money. And this is a fundamental point.
The scheme, to which the same Americans pushed the Europeans, was as follows: the money goes to Gazprom’s accounts in Europe and, accordingly, is blocked there. And this is repeated endlessly until the special military operation stops. An uncomplicated financial trap.
For the Russian side, making settlements in the area of domestic jurisdiction is also a profitable step. This may not be the most thorough, but it is still a brick in building a parallel financial system, which has been talked about so much lately.
An alternative payment system is being formed now. This is not a violation of existing contracts in any way. This is a way of adapting to the unprecedented pressure that the Russian side is facing.
Moreover, tying the price of gold from below to equivalent of 75 rubles per dollar (roughly equivalent to the exchange rate pre-invasion) guarantees some immutability of the exchange rate of the euro vs. the ruble. This will need further adjustments if the ruble becomes more desirable.