A number of companies from Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia continue to obtain Russian gas — but the details of their settlements with Gazprom, in particular, whether they opened accounts in rubles at the request of Russia, are not public information. This is stated in the article by Politico, Ukrainska Pravda reports.
Italy's Eni has begun the process of opening two accounts at Gazprombank, on a precautionary basis, one in euros and the second in rubles.
Hungary's MVM, according to Hungarian Foreign Péter Szijjártó, pays in euros, Gazprombank converts them and pays to Gazprom Export. He added that a new gas contract between MVM subsidiary CEE Energy and Gazprom Export, signed in September, already allows for alternate currency payments.
Germany's VNG announced that it would pay the invoice amount, which would continue to be denominated in euros, into the accounts at Gazprombank and believes that " the conversion into roubles will not cause any difficulties and... the opening of the account went completely smoothly." Germany's RWE said that they had prepared for payment in euros and had opened a corresponding account. The company also noted that they were acting in accordance with European and national regulation. A similar statement was published by Germany's Uniper.
France's Engie said that it had taken the necessary steps to be ready to execute on its payment obligations, "as long as it is compliant with the European framework of sanctions against Russia.
The Czech Republic's ČEZ and Austria's OMV claim to be paying according to the sanctions mechanism.
Slovak SPP and Slovenian Geoplin claim that they are paying invoices in euros according to the valid contract and the recommendations of European institutions.
Context. In April, the European Commission said that the EU sanctions did 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 had been 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. Anything that goes beyond the payment of euros to an account with Gazprom will be considered a violation of the sanctions.
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