Russian state gas giant Gazprom threatened to reduce gas supplies to Moldova via Ukraine, putting forward allegations that Kyiv is holding onto supplies destined for its neighbor, CNBC reported.
Gazprom claimed in a statement on Telegram that the volume of gas it was supplying to the Sudzha gas measuring station “for transit to Moldova, through the territory of Ukraine, exceeds the physical volume transmitted at the border of Ukraine with Moldova.”
If the “transit imbalance” continued, Gazprom said, it will start to reduce gas supply to the Sudzha gas measuring station for transit through Ukraine from November 28, saying it would reduce supplies equivalent to those that were allegedly being “underdelivered.”
It’s not the first case of Gazprom’s allegations that Ukraine is ostensibly stealing Russian gas. Back in 2009, amid a Russia-Ukraine gas dispute which actually was nothing but Russia’s blackmail of the Ukrainian pro-Western post Orange Revolution government, Gazprom had accused Ukraine of stealing gas which became one of the narratives of Russian propaganda.
Gas prices and cutting off supplies used as political leverage have been a Russian hybrid warfare tool for decades.
Update:
Ukraine refuted Gazprom’s allegations regarding gas supplies to Moldova.
“All volumes that were received at the Sudzha point of entry from the Russian Federation, in particular, for further transportation to Moldovan consumers, were transferred in full to the Oleksiivka and Hrebenyky points of exit from Ukraine to Moldova. This is confirmed by all necessary documents signed with related operators, one of which is Gazprom itself,” the Operator of the Gas Transport System of Ukraine wrote on its Facebook page.
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