Moldova's debt to Gazprom lower than claimed by Russia
Moldova's energy minister, Victor Parlicov, will hold a briefing on Wednesday to present the results of an external audit of Moldovagaz's debt to Gazprom.
President Maia Sandu said on Sunday that the audit found that the debt of $800 million claimed by Russia is not accurate, according to Nokta.
The issue of the debt first arose in public in October 2021, during negotiations with Gazprom for a new gas supply contract. The Russian company claimed a debt of over $700 million and conditioned the signing of the contract on the gradual repayment of the debt.
Chisinau announced at the time that it would conduct an international audit of the debt, which was to be completed by spring of last year. However, the deadline was postponed several times, including because no international company had registered to conduct the audit in the context of the war in Ukraine.
It was not until August 2022 that two companies from Norway and the United Kingdom were contracted. In July of this year, Parlicov announced that the report on the external audit of the Moldovagaz debt would be sent to Gazprom in the near future.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
