The company has existing contracts and nothing like that was stipulated there.
Austrian oil and gas company OMV will continue to pay for Russian gas in euros. This was stated by the head of the company Alfred Stern in an interview with PULS 24.
Asked whether the company will continue to pay for gas in euros and not in rubles, he said: “Of course. We have no other contractual basis, I would not be able to do anything like that. “
Stern clarified that the company has existing contracts and nothing like that was stipulated there .
It will be recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided that he can unilaterally change the terms of Gazprom's contracts and force Europeans to pay for gas in rubles .
He gave the Russian government and Gazprom a week to unilaterally amend previously concluded contracts. And the Central Bank together with the government to determine the procedure for such operations, including the acquisition of Russian rubles in the domestic foreign exchange market of the Russian Federation.
According to experts, this may be an attempt to strengthen the ruble.
However, it is possible that in this way Russia is trying to avoid one of the mechanisms of responsibility for the losses inflicted on Ukraine during the war .
Read also: In order for Russia to pay reparations to Ukraine, the world's best lawyers will be involved – the Foreign Ministry
In particular, such a mechanism is the creation of a so-called escrow account – a special conditional account, which takes into account property, documents or funds before certain circumstances or the fulfillment of certain obligations. In particular, it is assumed that such funds will be credited to the funds raised by the aggressor country for the sale of oil and gas to the West. And subsequently, these funds will be used to pay compensation to Ukraine.
Also, experts note that to date, long-term contracts concluded by Gazprom for the supply of gas to European companies do not suggest the possibility of changing the payment mechanism. And the swap, where Gazprom may indeed demand a change in the method of payment, sells small volumes of gas.
After Putin's statement, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba called on EU countries not to comply with Moscow's demands and not to pay for the purchase of Russian oil and gas in rubles .
