As the world still wonders if Russia will block its flow of oil and gas to the West amid Moscow’s anger at sanctions, Russia says gas is still being pumped.

About 109.5 million cubic metres of gas is expected to transit via Ukraine, Gazprom spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov said on Thursday.

That is the same as was sent on Wednesday and was the most allowed under current contracts.

Despite a slew of sanctions against Russia following its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, there had been almost none on fuel exports because much of Europe relies heavily on Russian fuel.

But the other sanctions were damaging Russia’s economy and had sent the rouble into freefall. President Vladimir Putin’s demand that payments start coming in rouble was seen as an attempt to bolster demand for the currency.

Meanwhile, Western countries had said they would not accede to the payment demands. Many had also begun the process of orienting their economies away from Russian fuel imports, though many thought that process would not move quickly and leave Europe vulnerable to fuel shortages in the coming year.

The deadline for the rouble payments had been set for Thursday. Mr Putin is meeting Gazprom and central bank officials on Thursday to discuss the next steps. 

(dpa/NAN)