MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the failure of Austrian company OMV to pay for Russian gas supplies was due to its own misconduct.

OMV previously announced that it had received an arbitral award from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in a dispute with Gazprom Export. The company stated it would seek damages amounting to 230 million euro for failing to receive the contracted volume of gas from the Russian company for delivery to Germany, which it attributed to payment issues under its agreement with Austria.

Subsequently, the Austrian importer received a notice from Gazprom Export about the suspension of gas supplies.

"This is the Austrian company’s misconduct. I believe that our response to this matter is more than justified. We are not going to engage in charity in this case," Zakharova said during a briefing.

The decision to reduce gas pumping taken in September 2022 was due to objective reasons, namely blasts at the Nord Stream gas pipeline and suspension of transit via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, she said, adding that those factors remained unnoticed.