Amid tough economic sanctions put in place by the international community, Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to leverage the country's natural gas exports.
Putin signed a decree on Thursday, requiring "unfriendly countries" to pay for natural gas in rubles via Russian banks from April 1st.
He added during his televised speech that existing contracts would be terminated if clients fail to comply with their obligations
Despite strong messages coming from Europe's biggest gas provider, Western companies and governments have rejected the move saying it's a breach of contracts which are set in euros or dollars.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz said he expects his country to be able to pay for Russian gas according to prior agreements, a reaction echoed by other countries like France, Britain and the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile in Ukraine, fresh efforts are being put in place to evacuate civilians still trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, a convoy of 45 buses is headed to the city as Russia agreed to open a humanitarian corridor to Mariupol, where tens of thousands of civilians are still trapped.
The operation is facing difficulties however as Vereshchuk added Russian troops blocked the convoy at a checkpoint.
The operation was originally slated for Thursday but is now going ahead on Friday due to logistical and security reasons.
This comes as Russia is reportedly reinforcing its offensive in the Donbas region, just a few days after saying it would "radically" scale down attacks on some parts of Ukraine.
The Pentagon said Russia seemingly intends to refit and resupply its troops to redeploy them elsewhere.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said , Russia continues to maintain pressure on Kyiv and other cities.
He added that additional offensive action is expected, which could bring even more suffering.
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