Kadyrov urges Gazprom to write off part of Chechnya's gas debt

Large losses of gas in Chechnya happened during the years of warfare, therefore, the state and the "Gazprom" must write off the republic's debt, Ramzan Kadyrov has stated. Russia had forgiven debts to many countries, the head of Chechnya has recalled in his comment on the court judgement on the gas indebtedness case.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 16, the Chechen Prosecutor's Office (PO) reported that a Grozny court had obliged the Gazprom to write off the Chechen population's "hopeless debts" in the amount of over nine billion roubles. The company has appealed against this court judgement. The Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has upheld the Gazprom's refusal to write off the above debts.

On April 11, the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya cancelled the ruling of the Zavodskoy District Court of Grozny to write off the "the hopeless to recover population's indebtedness" in the amount of more than 9 billion roubles.

The SC has found that the "Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Grozny" had not carried out an inventory of its liabilities for six years, although it had to do it annually. The SC ordered the gas company to conduct this inventory, Ramzan Kadyrov reported in the evening on April 11.

The inventory results should be a basis for cancelling the indebtedness, for which the limitation period has expired, as well as "other debts that are unrealistic to be recovered," says the message of Kadyrov's Telegram channel.

Kadyrov has reminded that the gas network in Chechnya was destroyed during the combat actions. "The gas just disappeared into nowhere; it burned in giant torches that appeared at explosions of bombs and shells. [...] now it's time to seriously deal with the gas debts attributed to Chechnya," Ramzan Kadyrov has stated.

He has recalled that "all over the world, there is practice of forgiving debts." "We know that our country has forgiven old debts to many countries. [...] Chechnya and its people hope that, by virtue of the prevailing special circumstances, the state and the company will meet their demands. And this decision will be fair," he has concluded.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 12, 2019 at 00:48 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.