Siemens turbines for Belarus: no loan from KfW, but supplies are in progress | Analysis of events in political life and society in Germany | >

by time news

The German company Siemens Energy continues to fulfill the contract for the supply of 16 gas turbines to Belarus from its Swedish enterprise, despite the fact that the German state bank KfW IPEX Bank withdrew from financing the project. “At the moment we are fulfilling our contractual obligations, a significant part of the machines have been produced and are being prepared for shipment or are already on site,” Tim Proll-Gerwe, spokesman for the company, said in response to an inquiry from >.

Swedish state agency withdrew from the project after the incident with the Ryanair plane

Development Bank KfW IPEX Bank confirmed to > the information that appeared in various media in recent days that it canceled a loan of 100 million euros that had not yet been paid to the Belarusian state company Minskenergo after the Swedish State Export Credit Agency (EKN) refused to insure the project …

“The Swedish EKN informed us that it withdraws its export financing coverage. This automatically means the end of our loan agreement. Until now, KfW IPEX Bank has not made any payments under this agreement, after the end of the loan agreement, future payments are no longer possible,” he said Philipp Kielbassa, deputy spokesman for the bank.

Swedish state agency withdrew from the project after the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich

The Swedish state agency withdrew from the project on May 26 as a reaction to the forced landing of a Ryanair aircraft in Minsk on May 23 by the Belarusian authorities in order to arrest the opposition journalist Roman Protasevich and his companion Sophia Sapega on board. “There are no preconditions for both projects in Belarus to meet the requirements of human rights protection in accordance with international legal norms,” EKN said.

The second project mentioned in this statement is the supply of Siemens Energy gas turbines to the Belarusian state-owned company Brestenergo. The deal is being financed by the German Commerzbank. When asked by >, its spokesman, Bernd Reh, replied: “Please understand that we are not, in principle, speaking out on possible or existing loan arrangements.”

When asked how the withdrawal of the Swedish state agency affected the project, Siemens Energy spokesman Tim Prol-Gerve replied that “EKN’s decision has no direct consequences for our obligations, because the client and thus the recipient of the loan is a Belarusian energy company. “.

German banks don’t make political statements

Thus, in the history of the supply of gas turbines to Belarus for the creation of the so-called peak-reserve capacities, designed to insure the operation of the Belarusian NPP, the following picture emerges.

Immediately after the incident with the Ryanair plane, which caused strong condemnation in the European Union and entailed various sanctions against the official Minsk, the Swedish state agency decided to refuse further insurance of the project with Belarusian state energy companies. At the same time, it made a not very harsh, but still a political statement.

Belarusian nuclear power plant

Siemens Energy gas turbines are needed to insure the operation of the Belarusian NPP

After that, the German state bank KfW IPEX Bank canceled its unpaid loan, but did so on a purely formal basis, automatically responding to the change in the terms of the loan agreement, and refrained from any political statements.

The German commercial bank Commerzbank did not make any statements at all, which suggests that the loan has not only not been canceled, it has even been paid off. In any case, Siemens Energy continues to fulfill the order of the Belarusian state-owned companies for 16 turbines, apparently not worrying much about their payment.

And here the question arises: from what sources is it carried out? After all, the Commerzbank loan seems to cover only 5 turbines. Possible answer: the German company Siemens Energy is actually lending itself to the Belarusian state in the hope that sooner or later it will pay the bills.

See also:

.

You may also like

Leave a Comment