Gazprom Export has notified OMV of the suspension of supplies as of November 16, Zakharova told a briefing. This decision followed a ruling in favor of the Austrian company in an arbitration dispute with the Russian side over a lawsuit filed in January 2023 regarding alleged under-deliveries in the fall of 2022 of gas that was supposed to go on to Germany. She added that the reduction of gas flows was due to objective reasons, the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline and the interruption of transit through Poland via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, pointing to the provisions of the Russian presidential decree №172 of 2022 on the special procedure for foreign buyers to fulfill obligations to Russian natural gas suppliers.
"It clearly specifies the payment mechanism for Russian pipeline gas deliveries to unfriendly countries in rubles, which Vienna has so far diligently followed. This excludes further sales of gas if the payment deadline has passed and the foreign buyer has not made the payment. Compliance with the court's decision to compensate the awarded amounts as payments under another contract would inevitably lead to the suspension of further financial transfers and, consequently, to the free extraction of Russian pipeline gas. This is dishonest behavior on the part of the Austrian company. Our negative reaction to it seems more than justified. We do not intend to engage in charity in this case," Zakharova said.
OMV said on Friday that it expected Russia's Gazprom Export to stop gas deliveries to Austria as of November 16. Earlier on November 13, OMV said the case over Gazprom Export's gas supplies to Germany had ended in its favor, with an international arbitration panel awarding it 230 million euros ($242 million) plus interest and costs for payments under the contract for supplies to Austria.