To live in dugouts and to warm oneself by burning wood?! :: Charter'97 :: News

Alyaksandr Lukashenka has approved a program of re-equipment of the forest industry. Its main objective is to increase use of timber as fuel, ITAR-TASS informs. The press-service of the head of the state informed that "search for new sources of energy is relevant for the country" because it doesn`t have own oil and gas.

One should underline that according to the decision of the government, Belarusian powermen should double the share of local kinds of energy resources until 2010, up to 25%.

As we have informed, Gazprom and Beltransgaz have signed an agreement on Russian gas deliveries on December 31, 2006. Russian gas is to be delivered at a price 100$ per 1,000 cubic metres. Earlier Minsk was not satisfied with those prices. Gazprom warned that gas deliveries would be stopped on January 1, 2007 if the agreement not signed.

On January 10 Minsk revoked transit duties for Russian oil. Moscow refused to pay them and halted oil transit via Druzhba trunk pipeline to Europe after found Belarus siphoning off Russian oil. Oil deliveries to some European countries were stopped.

By the way, before the gas agreement was signed, on December 29, 2006 at an opening ceremony of an ice palace in Zhodzina Alyaksandr Lukashenka called the position of the Russian government "not constructive" and stated that Belarus wouldn`t yield to "gas blackmailing".

"So far there has been blackmail, but, if they keep blackmailing (us), we will go into dugouts but won`t give in to blackmail," Alyaksandr Lukashenka said.