Moldovagaz JSC recognizes a historical debt to Gazprom of $ 709 million. This was stated on TV8 by the acting board of the company Vadim Cheban. According to him, this is confirmed by internal audit and other relevant documents signed by both parties.
"At this stage, there are all the documents, reconciliation certificates that confirm Moldovagaz's historical debt to Gazprom on the right bank of the Dniester in the amount of $ 709 million. This debt is in accounting, no one has canceled it. The documents are being signed," confirm Cheban.
Earlier, the Moldovan government categorically refused to recognize debt obligations to the Russian concern. As a result, since January 1 of this year, Gazprom has stopped the supply of blue fuel to the region, which is currently experiencing an energy crisis.
Moldova's payment of the historical debt to Gazprom was one of the conditions of the five-year contract concluded in October 2021. Chisinau several times disrupted not only the payment of current supplies, but also the timing of an external audit, and then attracted companies with a dubious reputation (the Norwegian Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma AS and the British Forensic Risk Alliance) without coordinating it with the Russian side. As a result, the Moldovan debt was unreasonably underestimated by 100 times. Chisinau claims that it owes no more than $ 8 million, but it also does not pay them, instead accusing the Russian side without proof of "non-compliance with the terms of the contract and gas blackmail."
As EADaily reported, the Moldovan government is in the process of finding lawyers to assist in the litigation that the authorities intend to initiate against the Russian concern Gazprom. According to Prime Minister Dorin Rechan, they should also assist in the process of returning energy assets "seized by the Russian Federation." We are talking about Moldovagaz JSC, whose main shareholder is Gazprom, as well as Inter RAO's enterprise in Transnistria "Moldavskaya GRES", which until recently provided up to 90% of the needs of the right bank in electricity.