Lukashenka: They simply fooled us around :: Charter'97 :: News

“Since 1 January this year we received 100% of the gas payment but we didn’t pay to Russia as we had been promised the credit for the payment. They simply fooled us around .But we don’t mind that”, Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared answering the questions of inhabitants of the agricultural settlement Hervyati of the Hrodna region.

He stressed that the price rise for the Russian gas won’t affect the Belarusian ruble exchange rate. A. Lukashenka mentions that over the period of the Russian-Belarusian gas conflict last winter some people got scared of the situation with the gas price-hike and in a hurry withdrew the deposits in Belarusian rubles. “The life showed that there was nothing to worry about and they brought their deposits back to the banks”, Lukashenka declared.

It is to be mentioned that 8 August in the morning Beltransgaz made the last payment to Gazprom’s account thus repaying the full amount of the debt, i.e. USD 456.16 million for gas deliveries in the first half the year.

However, experts remark that even if now Belarus makes a full settlement with Gazprom, the tension in relations with Gazprom is to be regularly aggravated because not any other deferred payment is to be stipulated by the contract for the second half the year (as it was in January-July when Beltransgaz paid only 55% of the actual cost).That means that 23 August is the deadline of the payment for July gas deliveries by the Belarusian party at the price of USD 100 per thousand cubic meters.

Another moment of the tension aggravation is foreseen early next year when the gas price for Belarus is to grow another time. Beltransgaz and Gazprom signed a four-year contract for gas deliveries which stipulates the gas cost for Minsk of USD 100 per thousand cubic meters in 2007 and 67% of the average European cost of the Russian gas in 2008, and 80% and 90% in 2009 and2010, respectively. Thus, if to subtract a 30% custom’s duty which is not added if gas is delivered to Belarus from the forecasted export price for the overseas countries (USD 270) and the transportation cost of the gas delivery to Germany then since January Beltransgaz is to pay no less than USD 120 per 1000 cubic meters.