As the situation stands today:
1. Russia has announced that since the US and the EU have defaulted on their US dollar and euro obligations, respectively, by freezing Russian reserves, Russia will now only sell natural gas for rubles.
2. There is no other source of sufficient quantities of natural gas available; thus, the EU has no choice but to continue importing natural gas from Russia.
3. The EU has to keep the gas flowing or it will be unable to make it through next winter without shutting down all industrial production or letting the housing stock go unheated.
How will the EU get the required quantities of rubles? Good question! The following comprehensive analysis (credit: “adventurist”) answers it pretty well.
ClubOrlov 