Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 2 (Gazprom) said on the 1st that from January to May this year, the company's total natural gas exports to areas outside the former Soviet Union decreased by 27.6% compared with the same period last year.
The energy giant issued a statement on the same day saying that in the first five months of this year, Russia exported a total of 61 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the above-mentioned regions. According to Agence France-Presse, the decrease in Russian natural gas exports was mainly because Russia stopped supplying gas to some European countries that did not accept the "ruble settlement order".
Since Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine on February 24, the European Union has followed the United States in imposing multiple rounds of sanctions on Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree on March 31 to settle natural gas trade in rubles with "unfriendly" countries and regions, requiring "unfriendly" countries and regions to open ruble accounts in Russian banks to pay for natural gas purchases payment, otherwise the supply will be interrupted.
At this stage, many European countries have been "suffocated" by Russia for refusing to comply with the "Ruble Settlement Order". These countries are Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Data previously released by the European Commission showed that before the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the EU relied on Russia for about 40% of its natural gas supply. This proportion has now dropped to about 26%. The EU wants that to fall to 13% by the end of this year.
