Zakharova ruled out charity for Austria on the issue of gas supplies

Russia will not do charity and supply gas to Austria after non-payment by oil and gas company OMV for the supplied fuel. Such a statement was made by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on November 21.

Earlier, OMV claimed victory in an arbitration case on the dispute with Gazprom Export after the temporary suspension of supplies in the fall of 2022. In addition, the company expressed its intention to recover €230 million from Gazprom.

"This is unfair behavior of the Austrian concern. Our negative reaction to such a thing, it seems to me, is more than justified. We are not going to do charity in this case," she said at the briefing.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that the decision to reduce gas pumping in September 2022 was conditioned by the undermining of the Nord Stream gas pipeline and stoppage of transit through the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, but these factors remained unnoticed.

Zakharova also recalled the provision of Russian President Vladimir Putin 's decree "on a special procedure for foreign buyers to fulfill their obligations to Russian natural gas suppliers." She noted that Vienna has so far faithfully observed the mechanism of payment for supplies.

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Earlier, on November 18, Gerald Gros, a publicist and former Austrian presidential candidate, said that prices for the blue fuel would rise even more in the country after the refusal of gas supplies from the Russian company Gazprom in 2025. He noted that they will rise by almost 30%.

On the same day, Maxim Chirkov, an associate professor at the Department of Economic Policy and Economic Measurements of the State University of Economics, told Izvestia that the termination of gas supplies to the OMV energy company from Russia's Gazprom Export is very negative for the Austrian economy. In addition, he did not rule out a further increase in the cost of gas on the European market.

The energy regulator E-Control reported the termination of gas supplies from Gazprom Export to Austria's OMV Marketing und Trading on November 16. Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl said on Nov. 17 that Austrian businesses face massive bankruptcy after gas supplies from Russia are halted. According to her, Austria's dependence on imports of Russian fuel was about 75% in 2021 and increased to 90% by 2024.