Moldova offered Gazprom to fully settle the debt dispute for $8.6 million, although the amount of the debt is $709 million, Newsmaker writes with reference to Energy Minister Viktor Parlikov.
According to the official, Gazprom is demanding $709 million from Moldova, but the audit did not find confirmation of the main part of the debt. The auditors found that a significant portion of this amount is either non-enforceable or undocumented. Moreover, such conclusions of the audit allow Moldova to file claims, since Gazprom unreasonably reduced the volume of supplies to Moldova last year, Parlikov specified.
According to him, if the Moldovan government recognizes a debt of $709 million, this will mean that each household connected to gas will owe $1,000, the minister said. He added that the authorities do not expect confirmation of the findings of the auditors in Moldovagaz, since the controlling stake belongs to Gazprom. The audit cost Moldova €1.15 million.
It should be noted that since 2022, Gazprom and Moldovagaz have annually extended the agreement on gas supplies. Once again, the agreement was extended in the fall of 2021 for five years. The agreement provided for the payment by Moldova of the debt for deliveries of previous years. The Moldovan authorities agreed to move on to a debt dialogue, subject to an independent audit. The Russian side threatened to cut off deliveries and threatened to refuse to renew the contract if $709 million was not paid. The President of Moddavia, Maia Sandu, has previously stated that the Russian side wanted to deceive Chisinau.
Source: Rosbalt
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