Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at talks in Sochi agreed to switch to a partial payment for Russian gas in rubles. This was reported by Interfax with reference to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

The talks lasted over four hours, and a joint statement was issued following the meeting. The text does not say anything about paying for gas in rubles.

The presidents agreed to "increase the volume of bilateral trade on a balanced basis", meet the expectations of the opposite side in the fields of economy and energy, and increase cooperation in the fields of transport, trade, agriculture, industry, finance, tourism and construction.

In addition, Putin and Erdogan recognized the important role of countries in the conclusion of the "Initiative for the safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports."

The “architect” of Putin’s economic counterattack against the West, as well as the key ideas for easing economic sanctions after the start of the war in Ukraine , is not himself, but his assistant Maxim Oreshkin. As Bloomberg reported, it is Oreshkin who is the author of the proposal to transfer payments for gas into rubles. Oreshkin himself said that he considers the effect of using the “rubles for gas” scheme to be positive, but declined to comment on his role in its development.

Putin voiced "his" idea to counter the sanctions on March 23, and on March 31 he signed a decree on the transfer of payments for Russian pipeline gas supplies to "unfriendly" countries from foreign currency into rubles. After that, companies from some countries opened special currency and ruble accounts with Gazprombank and began to transfer payments for supplies in foreign currency. The United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, France, Japan and the United States unanimously rejected such a payment mechanism.