Putin Tries Blackmailing America’s Allies to Buy His Useless Rubles

(Snapshot from the Kremlin's video address)

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has issued a vile ultimatum to America’s allies in Europe.

He’s threatening to cut off their natural gas supplies unless they immediately start paying for them in rubles, the totally useless Russian currency.

Putin Pushing His Worthless Rubles

After Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, a war with his soldiers reduced to eating Ukrainian dogs and getting exposed to deadly radiation, the United States and its western allies have slapped devastating economic and financial sanctions on Russia.

The sanctions caused a bank run in Russia, with the ruble collapsing to an exchange rate of 135 rubles to $1 based on market mechanisms.

The Putin regime, however, acted quickly to ban the purchase and holding of more than $10,000 by Russian citizens, thus artificially stopping the people’s rush to buy foreign currency.

After Putin’s initial declaration that only rubles can be used to buy Russian natural gas, government officials of US allies, such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, rejected it.

These US allies also emphasized that the existing contracts were in euro, the currency of 19 of the 27 EU member states.

Putin’s Fresh Bluff that Can Bankrupt His Regime

On Thursday, the Moscow tyrant once again gave televised remarks designed to blackmail the Europeans by using natural gas supplies as a mighty geopolitical weapon in Russia’s favor.

Putin did this against the backdrop of him losing the Ukraine war and suffering from the devastating western sanctions.

During his televised address, Putin threatened to cut off Russian gas to those not paying in rubles. The tyrannical leader also announced a decree stipulating that foreign buyers would be obliged to establish ruble accounts in Russian banks.

They would have to be paying in rubles as of April 1.

In a bizarre escalation of the tensions with the West, Putin argued that no one is selling Russia “anything for free.” He says this is why Moscow won’t be “giving out charity, either” and “the existing contracts are going to be terminated.”

It remains unclear what he meant by “charity,” considering the Europeans have been showering the Russian regime with cash in exchange for all the natural gas and oil their large economies have been consuming.

It also remains unclear how the Putin regime is going to manage without the Europeans’ money.

You see, even if it gets to cause an energy crisis in Europe by cutting off natural gas supplies, Moscow is going to rid itself of its single bid income source.

Putin’s latest threat against America’s allies in Europe appears to be little more than a bluff. However, if the leaders and people of the European countries call it, it has the potential to bankrupt Russia in months, if not weeks.

 

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