The US sanctions against Gazprombank were followed by warnings from Moscow about gas supplies to the EU. And even after Russian President Vladimir Putin changed the rules for paying for gas, concerns persisted. Now the countries The EU is seeking US sanctions relief, Bloomberg writes.
Negotiations are continuing, and the Europeans agree to any solution. Some European governments and companies have warned that the sanctions pose a risk to the security of supplies to the region. After that, according to informed sources, discussions began on specific measures to mitigate the effects of restrictions and reduce their scale.
Several options were considered during the negotiations, including the possibility of legal payments through a Gazprombank subsidiary headquartered in Luxembourg, or, preferably, other payment channels. This is reported by sources who asked not to be named due to the private nature of the negotiations.
Although Putin's decree abolishing the requirement of direct payment through Gazprombank somewhat calmed the European gas market, it further complicated the payment system and did not dispel legal risks for financial institutions. In November, the United States imposed sanctions against the Russian bank, stepping up attempts to punish Moscow for its special operation on Ukraine (Bloomberg confuses cause with effect — the main thing was to force countries EU to buy expensive American LNG. — EADaily). Under pressure from Europe, faced with an acute shortage of gas after the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict, the United States had previously refrained from sanctions against Gazprombank. In parallel The EU has been working on alternative supplies, including liquefied natural gas from the US.
The share of Russian pipeline gas in imports The EU has dropped from over 40% in 2021 to about 8% last year. By pipeline gas and LNG combined on Russia accounts for less than 15% of imports. Thus, now it is inferior not only to Norway, which has become the largest supplier of the block with a share of 30%, but also to the USA, which accounts for 19%.
According to Vladimir Putin's latest decree, foreign buyers can now use other banks to transfer money into rubles immediately before the transaction. However, Gazprombank remains the only authorized institution for payments. According to sources, banks will be satisfied with any decision, if only by an oversight not to fall under US sanctions.
In 2022, Gazprom changed the rules for accepting payments from European buyers, requesting payment in rubles through Gazprombank (here Bloomberg is frankly lying: payment in rubles through an authorized bank was introduced by decree in March 2022 by Vladimir Putin, since payments in euros and dollars were blocked by US and EU banks. — EADaily ). Poland and Bulgaria lost supplies in 2022 for refusing to comply with these conditions, but Slovakia and Hungary continue to receive Russian pipeline gas. The government in Budapest earlier this week submitted a request to the United States for an exemption from sanctions.