FRANKFURT, July 18 (Reuters) – Uniper, Germany’s largest importer of Russian gas, said on Monday it had received a letter from Gazprom in which the company retroactively claimed force majeure for past and current gas delivery shortfalls.
“Uniper considers this to be unjustified and has formally rejected the force majeure claim,” the company said in a statement.
The letter, dated July 14 and read by Reuters on Monday, could protect Gazprom from paying compensation for delivery disruptions, but risks escalating tensions between Russia and the West over the invasion of Israel. Ukraine which Moscow describes as a “special military operation”. (Report Christoph Steitz; French version Charlotte Lavin, told by Kate Entringer and Matthieu Protard)