London ¨C Europe and Russia will both lose heavily if President Vladimir Putin follows through on his threat to cut gas supplies to countries he judges ¡°unfriendly¡± unless they pay in rubles.
Even at the height of the Cold War, Moscow never cut gas to Europe, but on Thursday, Putin signed a decree ordering foreign buyers to pay in rubles instead of euros from April 1 or face going without Russian supplies.
European capitals rejected the ultimatum and on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it would not affect settlements until later this month.
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