April Fools: Russian gas continues to flow to Europe despite Putin's currency deadline

Although Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that all Russian gas exports must be paid for in rubles from April 1, gas continued to flow to Europe on Friday despite Western governments’ refusal to change their form of payment.

"In order to purchase Russian natural gas, they must open ruble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow," Putin told reporters.

"If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either - that is, existing contracts will be stopped."

Europe presently obtains about a third of its gas from Russia Putin’s threat caused alarm bells to sound across the European Union as leaders warned that Moscow was using “blackmail” to counter Western sanctions.

It was business as usual on Friday, however, as pipelines continued to pump gas to Europe.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the decree would not affect shipments that were already paid for – noting that issues could arise when new payments are due in the second half of the month, Reuters reported.

"Does this mean that if there is no confirmation in roubles, then gas supplies will be cut off from April 1? No, it doesn't, and it doesn't follow from the decree," Peskov told reporters.

Furthermore, peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv resumed via video link on Friday – even as Ukrainian officials claimed that a counterattacks by the armed forces had repelled the Russians from the capital and broken the sieges of cities in the north and east.

The Kremlin acknowledged that progress had been made during the talks and said it would respond to a Ukrainian peace proposal delivered earlier this week.