Politico published a list of European energy companies that continue to receive Russian gas – but the details of their settlements with Gazprom, in particular, whether they opened ruble accounts at the request of Russia, are not public information.
This is stated in the material dated May 25, writes “European Truth”.
These are companies from Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia. Only the Italian company directly admitted that it had an account in both euros and rubles.
According to the Hungarian MVM, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said in early April that the settlements were made in euros, Gazprombank would convert them and pay the funds to Gazprom Export. He also noted that a new contract between MVM subsidiary CEE Energy and Gazprom Export, signed in September, already allows payments in an alternative currency.
The German VNG, in a comment dated May 9, said that it would pay bills that would continue to be in euros to Gazprombank accounts and believes that “converting into rubles will not entail any difficulties and … the opening of the account took place without problems” .
The German RWE said on May 16 that they had prepared for payments in euros and opened an appropriate account, and noted that they were acting in accordance with pan-European and national rules.
A similar statement was released by the German Uniper, noting that it had prepared for “appropriate contracts for payments in euros to this account in accordance with the new mechanism.”
VIDEO OF THE DAY
The French Engie said it was prepared to fulfill its payment obligations “as long as it is in line with the European sanctions framework against the Russian Federation.”
Italy’s Eni said on May 17 that it had “started the process of opening two accounts with Gazprombank as a precautionary measure, one in euros and one in rubles.”
The Austrian OMV claims to be paying according to the sanctions mechanism.
In the Czech ČEZ, they commented that they are paying in euros on the recommendation of the European Commission, but they cannot comment on the details.
Slovak SPP and Slovenian Geoplin declare that they are settled in euros in accordance with the current contract and the recommendations of European institutions.
In April, the European Commission said that EU sanctions do not prohibit opening an account with Gazprombank, although it noted that customers can ask the Russian side to fulfill obligations under the contract in a way that was prior to the approval of the latest Russian requirements for payment under the dual account scheme, in euros or dollars and in rubles for conversion.
A European Commission spokesman commented in May that anything beyond paying in euros to a Gazprom account would be considered a violation of sanctions, but the EU continues to complain about the ambiguity of whether opening an account in rubles for conversion is considered a violation of sanctions.
The Russian Federation announced that it would publish a complete list of companies that opened ruble accounts with Gazprombank.
Recall that Gazprom stopped supplying gas to three EU members – Poland, Bulgaria and Finland – on the grounds that they refused to pay in accordance with the new requirements of Russia.