Russia’s demand that Europe pays for gas in rubles has been written off as “unacceptable.” European leaders agree that changing the currency of the payments would be a breach of contract. “We will not allow our sanctions to be circumvented. The time when energy could be used to blackmail us is over,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. Russia’s insistence that its “unfriendly” nations pay in rubles for Russian natural gas risks disrupting European supplies as soon as this week as the deadline set by Putin for moving to ruble payments is drawing closer. Europe, which depends on Russian natural gas for more than one-third of its demand—with some countries, including the biggest economy Germany, depending on Russia for half of its consumption—has rejected the gas-for-rubles […]