Maia Sandu: The Russian Federation can no longer blackmail the Republic of Moldova in terms of energy
The Russian Federation can no longer blackmail the Republic of Moldova from an energy point of view, as currently there are alternatives for supplying natural gas and energy, President Maia Sandu said on a ProTV show.
The head of state emphasized that, in the context in which the Russian concern Gazprom will insist on the payment of non-existent debts, the Chisinau authorities will defend their position in international courts.
"The Republic of Moldova is independent, from 2021 we have developed mechanisms so that we can buy gas elsewhere. The Russian Federation cannot blackmail us by shutting off our gas, because we can buy elsewhere, otherwise, for any international discussions, we have an audit done by companies with international reputation, and we can confidently go and defend our position. They can no longer blackmail us with the fact that they stop our gas, it was a means of blackmail that they used for 30 years, we, for two years, managed to break from this blackmail", stated Maia Sandu.
We remind you that, following the external audit regarding the debts of the Moldovagaz company to Gazprom, it was found that a large part of them was not confirmed or at least cannot be executed. The Minister of Energy, Victor Parlicov, declared last week that, according to calculations, Moldovagaz could pay less than 9 million dollars of the more than 700 million claimed by the Russian concern.
We remind that Gazprom does not recognize these results and disapproves of the historical debt audit report. The company also insists on a much higher outstanding amount and has announced that it intends to defend its rights in every possible way.
Currently, only the left bank of the Republic of Moldova is supplied with natural gas from Gazprom. The right bank procures the necessary quantities of natural gas from the European market.
