Gazprom deal: How Russia wanted to plunge Germany into energy chaos
Created: 04/19/2022, 15:41
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
The headquarters of Gazprom Germania in Berlin.
According to a report, Gazprom wanted to transfer control of its German subsidiary to a Russian musician.
(Archive image) © Paul Zinken/dpa
According to a report, Gazprom wanted to transfer control of its German subsidiary to a Russian musician - and thus maneuver Germany into an energy crisis.
Berlin - At the beginning of the month, Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) took action - and Russian President Vladimir Putin raged.
The Federal Ministry of Economics had temporarily appointed the Federal Network Agency as a trustee for Gazprom Germania.
Gazprom Germania: Central gas supplier for Germany
The order serves to protect public safety and order as well as "to maintain the security of supply," said Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) as a reason.
Gazprom Germania GmbH operates critical infrastructure in Germany and is therefore of "outstanding importance for the gas supply".
He emphasized: "The unclear legal situation, violations of the reporting obligation and the announcement of the liquidation of Gazprom Germania are now forcing the federal government to take this step." Putin then threatened retaliation.
The Russian president said at a televised meeting that a threat to nationalize Russian assets is a "double-edged sword".
Russian DJ orders liquidation of Gazprom Germania
But with the move to take control of the German Gazprom subsidiary, the federal government has probably prevented worse.
On April 1, Gazprom, Germany's largest gas supplier and Russian state-owned company, announced that it had divested itself of Gazprom Germania.
As the
BBC
reported shortly thereafter, the management of Gazprom Germania was officially transferred to Moscow DJ Dmitry Tseplyaev*.
According to the BBC
, Tseplyaev has
absolutely nothing to do with the energy industry: in March he is said to have played as "DJ-Five" in Moscow and was previously a car dealer.
But how did it happen?
As of
March 30, according to the Russian commercial register, Tseplyaev has been the CEO of a shady company called JSC Palmary, which has no employees and only has a share capital of around €35,000,
Business Insider reports.
At that time, Gazprom transferred 0.1 percent of the shares in Gazprom Germania to this company, while the remaining 99.9 percent was taken over by Gazprom Export Business Services LLC, a subsidiary of the group.
Spicy: Despite the low stake in Gazprom Germania, all voting shares went to Palmary, who thus had control of the group, writes the business magazine.
Tseplyaev used this for his first order: the liquidation of Gazprom Germania.
Hardly anything is known about Tseplyaev Motivation itself.
Apparently he played a role as a straw man.
Germany would have had to buy expensive gas
A liquidation would have far-reaching consequences - not only for Germany: Because a subsidiary of Gazprom Germania is Gazprom Marketing & Trading in London, through which the payments of European countries for Russian gas deliveries are processed, reports
Business Insider
.
This also includes contracts for gas prices, which are currently well below current market prices.
If Gazprom Germania had been liquidated, Germany and other European countries would have had to buy gas at higher prices.
In circles at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, there is talk of "chaos" in this case, reports the business magazine.
The federal government intervened accordingly and enforced that all of Palmary's voting shares are transferred to the Federal Network Agency by the end of September.
“We are aware of the responsibility for the secure gas supply that comes with this task.
Our goal will be for Gazprom Germania to be managed in the interests of Germany and Europe," Bundesnetzagentur President Klaus Müller told
tagesschau.de
.
"We want to take all necessary steps to continue to ensure security of supply."
With material from AFP and dpa *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
