The possible participation of the French oil company Totlenergies in the supply of aircraft fuel by the Russian Air Force through a joint venture is an “extremely serious” issue requiring clarification, France Minister Cleeman Bona said on Thursday. Reuters reports this.
According to Bona, he does not have sufficient information to take someone’s side in this matter. The agency notes that he became the first representative of the French government to comment on the accusations to undermine the efforts of French President Emmanuel Macron upon reaching the world in Ukraine.
le monde on Wednesday reported that since Totlenergies has a share in the Russian Novatek company, it participated in the supply of gas condensate for the production of jet fuel, which could be used to refuel Russian military aircraft.
“This is an extremely serious topic, so it is necessary to check whether there was a deliberate or random bypass of sanctions or the supply of energy carriers that the French or other company produced,” Bona said.
Manon Obri, a member of the European Parliament from the France France, one of the main opposition parties in the country, called on the government to take a position on this issue, saying that “France cannot turn a blind eye anymore.” “We have a French company that has become an indirect accomplice of a murderous war,” Obri said.
Totlenergies, which, unlike the main Western competitors, retained its assets in Russia, said that she did not use the infrastructure that could supply the Russian military, and did not know about the potential production of jet fuel by its business partners.
le monde reported that the aircraft fuel, which was supplied to two bases of the Russian Air Force, which probably participated in the application of air strikes in Ukraine, was made from gas condensate supplied by Terneptegaz, 49% of which belong to Totlenergies.