Reduction of oil supplies from Russia to Belarus in response to underpayment for gas, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sees as an attempt to put pressure on his country. Such a statement he made during today’s meeting in Minsk state Secretary of the Union state of Russia and Belarus Grigory Rapota, BelTA news Agency BelTA.
“We are fiddling with — or not say — and for several months can not agree on the price of gas. In this regard, Russia has reduced oil supplies to Belarus. We perceive this as pressure on Belarus, ” Lukashenka stressed. But the pressure I will not tolerate, and Belarusians too.”
Last week another round of talks between Moscow and Minsk over the price of Russian gas ended in failure. Vice-premiers of the two governments Arkady Dvorkovich and Vladimir Semashko did not come to an agreement.
Recall that since the beginning of year Minsk started the conversation, against the background of cheaper gas to the EU Belarus is entitled to pay for Russian fuel on the basis of the principle of equal profitability with the export price to Europe. That is, to insist on reducing cost of procurement. According to some reports, the Belarusian consumers since January began to underpay the only importer of gas from Russia — Gazprom’s subsidiary Gazprom transgaz Belarus” — about $ 50 per thousand cubic meters. Later it became known that Belarus wants in the event of rising energy prices in Europe reserve the right to return from the formula equal to the old pricing — the price of gas on the Yamal Peninsula, plus the cost of transit.
Russia in response to partial payment for its gas decided in the third quarter to cut oil supplies to Belarus from 5.3 to 3.5 million tons. Minister of energy of Russia Alexander Novak said that oil supplies are reduced due to lack of payment of the Minsk gas and short supply of petroleum products.
“Our Belarusian partners we are underpaid for gas. We lose money, including the budget, as Gazprom is a major taxpayer, and, of course, forced to look for payment options”, — said Novak.
In turn, head “Gazprom” Alexey Miller said that the debt for gas was the subject of litigation between the company “Gazprom transgaz Belarus” and distribution companies in the neighboring countries. At the same time, Belarus, as such, do not owe anything to Russia and “Gazprom”.
It is known that Dvorkovich and Semashko at the last talks were selected from the three solutions to the problem. The first and most beneficial for Minsk, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister, was precisely in the transition to the principle of equal profitability of prices with supply from Russia to Europe. The second compromise was to bind the cost of gas to Belarus for Russian domestic prices. The third, who proposed to consider Russia itself, assumed certain subsidies from Moscow.
Last Monday, Lukashenko has set the government of Belarus the task within two days to reach a final agreement with Russia about the conditions of energy supply. The head of state lamented the fact that the gas subject the citizens of the country are already discussing in the kitchen. So to get people to worry any longer is unacceptable.
