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Moldova fails to define amount of its debt to Gazprom — publication

The publication refers to mutually exclusive statements made by State Secretary of the Energy Ministry, Konstantin Borosan, and acting head of the Moldovagaz enterprise Vadim Ceban

CHISINAU, January 16. /TASS/. Moldova fails to decide on the amount of its debt for gas supplied by Gazprom and its payment, the Moldovan publication Noi reported.

The publication refers to mutually exclusive statements made by State Secretary of the Energy Ministry, Konstantin Borosan, and acting head of the Moldovagaz enterprise Vadim Ceban.

"The international audit clearly showed how much debt we have. Of the $8.6 million, there is still the last part that needs to be paid, we are talking about $2.3 million. This amount will be paid in full this year," Borosan said.

Cheban refuted this statement and said that "not a single dollar was paid. Moreover, at the moment, the company's draft budget for 2025 does not plan to repay the debt to Gazprom. Regarding the write-off, the debt has not been written off, according to accounting data, the debt currently amounts to $709 million," he said.

Borosan did not comment on Cheban's words, noting that he would do so later, the publication reported.

In October 2021, Gazprom's management agreed to extend the contract for gas supplies to Moldova for the next five years on condition that the country would make payments on its fuel debt on time.

Gazprom's spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov reported that Moldovagaz' debt was $709 million.

The Moldovan Audit Chamber, following an audit, claimed that the debt was $590.8 million.

During the negotiations, Chisinau insisted on an international audit of the country's gas debt and pledged to organize and present its results by May 1, 2022. Although the Moldovan side failed to fulfill its obligations, the Russian gas holding continued to supply gas to the republic. To conduct the audit, the Moldovan authorities signed contracts with two companies - the Norwegian Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma AS and the British Forensic Risk Alliance & Co. Following their audit, the Moldovan authorities stated that the debt was only $8.6 million.

Moldovagaz was established in 1999. Its largest shareholder is Gazprom, which controls 50% of the shares, another 35.3% belongs to the Moldovan government, and 13.44% to Transnistria. The unrecognized republic transferred its shares to Gazprom.