Russia to Turn Off Gas For Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

At the yesterday’s meeting of the Chairman of Gazprom Aleksey Miller and general director of the Beltransgaz company Pyotr Pyotukh the agreement was not reached, RIA Novosti informs. As a source in the Russian company informed, “talks over gas deliveries haven`t moved forward an inch. No agreement were reached”. A source of the “Izvestia” in Gazprom said that during negotiations Pyotukh repeated a recent statement by Alyaksandar Lukashenka that Belarus is not going to sell Beltransgaz at its balance cost, and does not want to buy gas at a price $50 per 1,000 cubic meters, demanding delivery at a subsidized price.

Last week Russia decreased supply by 30 per cent, and then ceased gas delivery to Belarus completely. It is not the first gas blockade fro Belarus in the preceding months. In the end of January and in the beginning of February Russian companies Gazprom, Itera and Trans-Nafta cut off gas supply already. Official Minsk in an emergency rush completed an agreement with TransNafta for the supply of 360 million cubic meters of Russian gas. This is enough to last until Wednesday morning, Obozrevatel informs.