Belarus Blasts Gas “Extortion” :: Charter'97 :: News

MINSK, Belarus -- Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko fired the latest salvo in his country`s struggle with Russia over natural gas supplies Friday, accusing Moscow of using gas deliveries to gain control over a Belarussian pipeline company.

Lukashenko said Russia is using Belarus` reliance on Russian gas to force the smaller country to cede control over Beltransgaz, the pipeline operator that carries Russian gas toward Western markets, at a low price.

"Frankly speaking, that`s the issue: `Give it away for free, we`ll turn on the gas,`" Lukashenko said during a visit to the Minsk headquarters of Beltransgaz, in comments broadcast by NTV television.

Lukashenko, whose relations with President Vladimir Putin have been tense, spoke a day after reports said Russia halted all natural gas supplies to Belarus but then resumed supplies temporarily under a hastily arranged contract.

Under the contract with the Russian gas export company Transnafta, which expires Tuesday, Belarus is to receive 360 million cubic meters of natural gas, company officials said. Last year Belarus bought gas from Gazprom at internal prices that are much lower than export prices, but Gazprom officials have said they see no reason to continue the subsidized sales, and no contract for 2004 has been signed.

Gazprom stopped gas supplies for a few hours on Thursday after the two sides failed to resolve a pricing dispute, raising fears about supplies of Russian gas to Germany and Poland after Belarus said it might bite into pipelines if supplies were cut.

Belarus wants to buy the gas at the same price as Russian consumers of about $30 per 1,000 cubic meters, while Gazprom wants to increase the price to $50.

Lukashenko said Belarus would not sell Beltransgaz for the $300 million to $400 million that state-connected Gazprom wants to acquire it for. "To give it away for free -- I can`t do that. I cannot commit a crime against my own people," he said. Belarus says Beltransgaz is worth $5 billion.