EnerMin: Romania supports EU's unitary position before Russia's blackmail of paying gas in rubles

The Romanian state and companies from Romania do not have direct contracts with Gazprom, and Romania supports taking on EU's unitary position before Russia's blackmail of paying for gas in rubles, the Romanian Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu wrote on Facebook, on Friday.

"Russia's new act of blackmail was delivered under the decree that states that payment for gas supplied by Gazprom should be made in rubles for export contracts towards unfriendly countries. Firstly, Romania supports taking on the EU's unitary position as a response to this new act of veiled aggression. We must be united and in solidarity to prove, once again, that we will not be bought piece by piece!," he said.

The member states of the European Union will have a common position, and at this moment there is a legal analysis being made at the level of all EU states, based on this decision announced by the Russian Federation.

"I have a message for the citizens: Romania is one of the least dependent countries on Russian gas. So there is no reason to panic, we have enough stock. Furthermore, neither the Romanian state, nor the companies have contracts with Gazprom, but there are intermediaries of the Russian company that sell gas in Romania. Regarding short-term, medium, and long term solutions, the European Union is working on the operationalization of a platform for joint purchase of natural gas," Popescu wrote.

He added that in the last months he had numerous talks for in order to have supply sources and diversified transport routes.

"We are very close to finishing these agreements. Also, we will soon carry out investments for increasing energy production sources, with financing from Romania's National Recovery and Resilience plan (PNRR) and the Fund for modernization," he concluded.

The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, declared on Thursday that he signed a decree in which he mentions that foreign clients must pay for Russian gas in rubles, as of April 1, and contracts will be discontinued if this condition will not be respected, said Reuters.AGERPRES