Pouyanne said TotalEnergies was only booking cashflow from the Yamal venture in its accounts "when we see the dividends in our pockets."

The company also gets more income out of its Yamal venture, in which it has a 20% stake, when LNG volumes received under TotalEnergies' long-term contract are sold into Europe and Asia.

"This is not Russian money, this is a European contract" Pouyanne said.

(Reporting by America Hernandez, Benjamin Mallet, writing by Silvia Aloisi)