ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed in a phone call on the importance of keeping up sanctions against Russia, which are “proving very effective,” Draghi’s office said in a statement on Thursday. The phone call between the two leaders comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to halt contracts supplying Europe with a third of its gas unless they are paid in Russian currency, his strongest economic riposte so far to crushing Western sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine. Both Italy and Germany are big importers of Russian g…