EU says gas payments may be possible under Russian roubles proposal

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union companies may be able to comply with Russia’s proposed system to pay for gas in roubles without falling foul of the bloc’s sanctions against Moscow, but it is not yet clear how such a procedure would work, the European Commission said on Friday.

Moscow in March issued a decree proposing that energy buyers open accounts at Gazprombank, where payments in euros or dollars would be converted to roubles. That decree does not necessarily prevent a payment process that would comply with the EU’s sanctions regime, the Commission said in a guidance document sent to EU member states and published online.

“However, the procedure for derogations from the requirements of the decree is not clear yet,” the document said.