French minister calls for investigation into possible links between Total Energy and the Russian army

French Transport Minister Clem Bonn called on Thursday for an investigation into whether the French oil company Total Energies was involved in supplying the Russian military with fighter jet fuel as part of a local joint venture.

Le Monde newspaper reported on Wednesday that Total Energies is involved in supplying gas condensate to manufacture jet fuel, which may have been used by Russian military aircraft in Ukraine through the French company's stake in a project with Russia's Novatek.

"This is a very serious issue, and therefore there is a need to conduct an investigation into whether there has been a circumvention, intentionally or unintentionally, of sanctions or of energy produced by a French or non-French company," the minister told France's Channel Two television.

Total Energy, which has kept its assets in Russia unlike its main Western rivals despite criticism, said it had not operated infrastructure that would have supplied the Russian military with fuel and had no knowledge that its trading partners might be producing any jet fuel.

Bonn, who said he did not have enough information to take sides in the matter, was the first French government official to comment on the allegations, which could undermine President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to bring peace to Ukraine.

The newspaper "Le Monde" reported that the jet fuel, which was delivered to two Russian Air Force bases that are likely to have participated in the implementation of air strikes in Ukraine, was produced from gas condensate supplied by Terneftegaz, in which Total Energies owns a 49% stake.

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