"No, absolutely. Payment and deliveries are a time-consuming process," Peskov told reporters when asked if new rules apply from 31 March.
The spokesman did not disclose possible solutions for switching to payments in rubles for gas but promised that they would be announced on Thursday.
On 23 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would transfer payments for gas supplies into rubles for "unfriendly countries". He explained that after the West "froze" Russian dollar and euro assets, "supplying our goods to the European Union and the United States and receiving payment in dollars, euros, and a number of other currencies" would no longer make any sense to Moscow.
Putin instructed the Russian Central Bank and the cabinet to determine the procedure for transactions with Europe in rubles within a week. He added, however, that Russia would continue to supply gas in volumes and at prices fixed in the contracts. The idea of switching to rubles in payments for gas comes as part of Russia’s response to the unprecedented European sanctions imposed on Moscow in reaction to its special military operation in Ukraine.