Ukraine will not agree to pay for the transit of Russian gas in rubles, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said in an interview with Economic Pravda.

" It’s impossible,” he said in response to a clarifying question about Ukraine’s position on the demand of the Russian Federation to pay for gas in rubles..

" These are not bilateral agreements.. First, Europeans need to pay in rubles. It's all connected. It is impossible to pay in rubles here, but here to receive euros and dollars,"

At the same time, he added that in this case, Russia should stop gas transit..

“It is the Russians who should then tell the Europeans: if you don’t want to pay in rubles, then goodbye, we are cutting off gas supplies,” Galushchenko said, adding that Europe is hardly ready for such a development of events..

Recall that Russian President Vladimir Putin decided that he could unilaterally change the terms of Gazprom's contracts and force Europeans to pay for gas in rubles..

He gave a week to the government of the Russian Federation and Gazprom to unilaterally amend the previously concluded contracts.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said before the EU summit in Brussels that the countries of the European Union are not going to pay Russia for the gas it provides in rubles. In turn, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the agreement on the supply of energy from the Russian Federation dealt with the settlement only in European and American currencies.