BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/12/2006

Belarus stands up to Russian gas demands

Russia and President Putin may be among the last friends Belarus and President Lukashenko have on the international scene. However Minsk is playing a risky game of 'who-blinks-first' in a standoff over gas prices, similar to the crisis that hit Russo-Ukrainian relations this time last year. Russia wants to more than quadruple the price Belarus pays for Gazprom's energy supplies, although Gazprom has indicated it will accept shares in Beltransgaz, the national energy company, instead of cash. Gazprom would eventually like to own more than fifty percent of Beltransgaz.

Twenty percent of Russia's gas exports to Europe pass through Belarus, and its pipelines also service the Baltic states, Kaliningrad, and Ukraine. After months of talks Belarus has decided it wants to pay the same price as the neighbouring Russian region of Smolensk, but Moscow has said this is impossible and "irresponsible".

Source:

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=397874&lng=1