"To pay in rubles -- if this is not foreseen in the contract -- is a breach of our sanctions. We have about 97% of all contracts that explicitly stipulate payments in euros or dollars," she said.

Technip’s involvement in Arctic LNG 2 is likely to be sharply cut beyond June.

Budapest does not support sanctions against Russian oil and gas and will not allow transit of weapons to Ukraine through its territory.

Putin's decree imposed an obligation on EU gas buyers to open at least two special accounts - one for euros or dollars and one for roubles - with Gazprombank and channel all gas payments through the bank.

Russia's invasion has driven up the price of the oil, gas and grain it exports, providing it with a substantial windfall to fund its "special military operation" - now entering a new phase as Moscow focuses on the eastern Donbas region after failing to break Ukraine's defence of the capital Kyiv.

The new round includes an import ban on coal from Russia worth Eur4 billion/year ($4.38 billion/year) and a ban on Russian vessels and Russian-operated vessels from accessing EU ports, allowing for certain exemptions such as agricultural and food products, humanitarian aid as well as energy.

While the US has already banned imports of Russian oil, gas and coal, it could escalate energy pressure through secondary sanctions on other countries that continue to import the supplies.

The sanctions against Russia are the hardest we have seen against any country to date and in particular the decision to freeze $600bn of Russian foreign reserves is a first, which will have huge consequences in the long-term.

The dependence on Russian natural gas in Germany is so great that if supplies from Russia were to be stopped and the remaining quantities of natural gas distributed to Europe, Germany would have to reduce its natural gas consumption in the heating gas sector or in the industrial sector by 100 TWh per year .

Speaking to the Bundestag parliament, Scholz said German will continue to look to reduce its dependency on Russian oil and gas but warned "hasty" action could trigger a recession.