Maia Sandu, the President of the Republic of Moldova, has stated that our country does not owe 800 million dollars to the Russian company Gazprom for gas deliveries. She also accused Moscow of attempting to deceive officials in Chisinau on this matter.
The President of the Republic of Moldova explained that an international company conducted an audit and “did not find any debt to Gazprom of 800 million dollars.”
“They tried to deceive us in 2021,” Maia Sandu pointed out during a visit to the Gagauzia region.
Disputes have existed between the Moldovan government and the Russian company Gazprom over the price of natural gas supplied to the Republic of Moldova and the payment of outstanding bills for deliveries since 2012.
Both the Republic of Moldova and Russia have different estimates regarding the amount of these debts.
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In 2021, the Republic of Moldova reached an agreement with Gazprom to extend the contract for the supply of Russian gas and to conduct an audit in 2022 of the debts accumulated by the state-owned company Moldovagaz.
In contrast, the Chisinau government only signed contracts with the Norwegian company Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma and the British company Forensic Risk Alliance for conducting that audit in August 2022, as reported by the source.
Gazprom has repeatedly warned that it reserves the right to suspend gas deliveries to the Republic of Moldova if Moldovagaz does not meet the payment conditions and if the debt issue is not resolved.
According to an assessment by the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova, by November 2022, the country had accumulated a debt of 590.8 million dollars to Gazprom for gas deliveries.