BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
19/01/2010
Minsk-Moscow electricity talks positive
MINSK, Belarus, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Moscow and Minsk expect negotiations on the transit of electricity through Belarus to bring both sides closer to an agreement, officials said Tuesday.
Officials at Belenergo, the Belarusian electricity monopoly, said Jan. 4 that supply concerns and "inappropriate fees" could force it to cut the power to the Belarusian energy grid and to Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast.
Unified Energy Systems, the Russian electricity monopoly, complained Minsk wanted a substantial increase in transit fees.
Lyudmila Kovich, a representative for the Belarusian energy minister, said negotiations Tuesday were moving in the right direction, Russia's state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reports.
"We expect that an agreement will be reached very soon," the representative said.
Belenergo and UES do not have contracts for deliveries of Russian electricity for 2010. Minsk, however, said it continues to deliver power.
A similar dispute erupted over the transit of Russian oil through Belarus to the Baltic region. That row sent jitters through European states still anxious over a 2009 gas disruption that resulted from disputes between Kiev and Moscow.
The report from RIA Novosti says the electricity talks, however, are "very different" than the oil dispute.
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