By CHISINAU. Sept. 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Moldova has no historical debts to Russia’s Gazprom, President Maia Sandu said during a meeting with women entrepreneurs from autonomous Gagauzia last weekend.
The absence of debt was confirmed by an audit conducted by two foreign firms, the president said.
“The public hasn’t heard this yet, but the government will soon announce the results of the audit. Gazprom representatives told us there was a debt of almost $800 million. They thought they could outsmart us. They left us without gas before the start of the 2021 heating season. Winter is coming: “Let’s quickly sign this for the return of $800 million over four years, and you will get gas,” they said. We said we could not sign it because it is an awful lot of money and we cannot sign it. Then they told us, “You will not have gas.” But we handled it,” Sandu stressed. She added that in 30 years of Moldovan independence, no one has ever tried to buy gas outside of Russia.
“If it is only a monopolist selling gas, then it’s not a normal situation. Moreover, they [representatives of Gazprom] said that we would not be able to change the law in two months or find any new contracts. It was ugly on their part. Deputy Head of Putin’s administration Dmitry Kozak said they would renew the contract, and then changed his mind. I think we did the right thing,” Sandu said.
Earlier it was reported that a new agreement between Gazprom and Moldovagaz was signed in October 2021 for a period of five years. It entered into force on November 1, 2021. This was preceded by long negotiations and the signing of a protocol on further actions from both signatories.
