Russia has realised it doesn’t necessarily need roubles for gas

President Putin’s threat to halt gas supplies from “unfriendly” states if they don’t switch to roubles is not as important as it seems. Russia has backed down on some of its demands following a backlash from the EU countries.

Russia’s leadership may have realised this was an unnecessary dispute, insofar as the goal of supplying FX to local markets could be achieved by other means. The President’s decree published yesterday allows the buyers of Russian gas to pay in FX rather than roubles into accounts to be set up in Gazprombank. The new mechanism ensures that 100% of gas export proceeds received from “unfriendly” countries are sold for roubles in the local market.

What you will learn:

• What this could mean for other commodities 
• The impact of capital controls 
• How this will effect the west