Russian gas holding Gazprom has confirmed the complete suspension of gas supplies to Denmark's Orsted Salg & Service and Shell Energy Europe following failure to pay in rubles.
"As of the end of the working day on May 31, Gazprom Export did not yet receive a payment from Orsted Salg & Service for the gas supplied in April, which was to be made in compliance with the Russian President's Decree No. 172 dated March 31, 2022," the statement said, as quoted by TASS news agency.
Gazprom said that payments for gas supplied since April 1 must be made in rubles via new account details, of which the counterparties were duly informed. But they did not comply.
On Tuesday, Gazprom Export said that starting June 1 it would suspend contracted supplies of Russian gas to Orsted and Shell Energy Europe for refusal to make payments in rubles.
This comes after European Council President Charles Michel had agreed to ban "more than 2/3rd" of Russian oil imports.
"Agreement to ban the export of Russian oil to the EU. This immediately covers more than 2/3 of oil imports from Russia, cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine. Maximum pressure on Russia to end the war," Michel tweeted on Monday on the first day of the summit in Brussels.
"This sanctions package includes other hard-hitting measures: de-Swifting the largest Russian bank Sberbank, banning 3 more Russian state-owned broadcasters, and sanctioning individuals responsible for war crimes in #Ukraine," he added.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU, after reaching an agreement on a partial ban on Russian oil, will cut oil imports from Russia by 90 per cent by the end of 2022.
"I welcome the EUCO agreement tonight on oil sanctions against Russia. This will effectively cut around 90 per cent of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year," von der Leyen said on Twitter.
Back in March, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the transfer of natural gas payments for EU countries and other states that introduced restrictive measures against Russia into rubles to stop using dollars, euros and a number of other currencies in settlements.
Putin even signed a relevant decree and said Russia would consider unfriendly countries' failure to pay in rubles from April 1 as non-fulfillment of obligations under gas contracts.
( With inputs from ANI )
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