Putin demands 'unfriendly countries' pay for Russian gas in rubles

[RealityNow]

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Putin demands 'unfriendly countries' pay for Russian gas in rubles​

Russia wants "unfriendly countries" to pay for Russian natural gas in rubles. That's a new directive from President Vladimir Putin as he attempts to leverage his country's in-demand resources to counter a barrage of Western sanctions.

"I have decided to implement ... a series of measures to switch payments — we'll start with that — for our natural gas supplies to so-called unfriendly countries into Russian rubles," Putin said in a televised government meeting, adding that trust in the dollar and euro had been "compromised" by the West's seizure of Russian assets.
The new requirement appeared aimed at propping up the flagging Russian currency, the ruble, by increasing demand for it. Its value gained against the dollar and the euro following Putin's announcement. Natural gas prices surged in Europe, where Russia has supplied about 45% of imports.

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Putin wants to sell Rubles to create a demand for them, so he can get more Dollars and Euro.... so he can "pay his loans so they don't default". No one "wants the Rubles", so this is nothing more than his way to try and get "Dollars and Euro"., while trying to create a demand for the Ruble.

All Nations have to do is, force even further "devaulation of the Ruble' and he will get even "less dollars and euro's"... to sell his Rubles, so they can give them back to him to 'resell" ... In the big picture, he still would loose, because the lower the Rubles falls, the less dollars he will get for them. he will try to counter the situation to try and sell his gas for a higher price to try and offset the declining Ruble....

It's a Fools Game... that is nothing but a "desperation ploy", because he does not have the Dollars and Euro to pay his National Debt Payments.

 

[Mr Person]

Is this some hamfisted excuse to push them to say "ok, we won't buy any", whereupon he declares offense and unfairness, then has a go at Poland?

It's a Fools Game... that is nothing but a "desperation ploy", because he does not have the Dollars and Euro to pay his National Debt Payments.

But that's the thing. Desperation ploy. We have to interpret it carefully and so make our bets. The threat itself is not the problem.

The problem is that it looks like it is aimed to get people to say "fine, none at all." That'd make sense if our sanctions were not hurting them more than they are us, but they are. What it smells like is an excuse to cite a complete cutoff of energy purposes as an act of war, or whatever, and we redo the Cuban Missile Crisis.