From today, countries that are hostile to the Russian Federation will have to pay for oil and gas with rubbles

 

From today, countries that are seen as hostile to the Russian Federation will have to pay for oil and gas with rubbles. To that effect, they will have to open an account at a Russian bank that will make the monetary conversion to rubbles in order to continue receiving oil and gas from the Russian Federation.

The measure was not unexpected and it makes perfect sense, proving once more, that measures implemented against the Russian Federation will ultimately backfire and end up damaging the economies of countries that allowed themselves to engage in knee-jerk reactions without having a thought about the potential repercussions.

In Germany, Alternative für Deutschland has raised the alarm as Germany faces a struggle with rising energy prices that rather than reducing dependency on fossil fuels increases dependency on fossil fuel at much higher costs. German coal is a crucially important commodity. Whether it is dirty or non-environmentally friendly is absolutely irrelevant. The country needs energy to avoid an economic disaster.

After Covid, some countries in the so called West are living in a permanent state of emergency. In UK, British authorities have announced reductions of Council Tax for certain families for amounts of up to 150 Pound. The only problem is that the same families because of measures taken by British authourities have seen their expenses rise by several thousands of Pound. Little consolation for those facing the direst situations. The number of those living under the radar keeps growing. Cases of families living in a single room shared with complete strangers are on the rise. The number of those falling below the poverty line kees rising and private debt - as well a public debt- keeps rising.