BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

29/12/2006

Gazprom denies blackmailing Belarus at gas talks

MOSCOW, December 29 (RIA Novosti) - A senior Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] official dismissed Friday Belarus's allegations that the energy giant was blackmailing Minsk in a dispute over a price on gas supplies in 2007.

"There was no blackmail whatsoever," said Alexander Medvedev, head of Gazprom's export arm.

Medvedev said it was Belarus that blackmailed Gazprom and Europe, threatening to disrupt Russian natural gas transits via its territory, 90% of which was pumped through Russia's Yamal-Europe pipeline.

Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko said earlier Friday that his country would not yield to Gazprom's pressure.

"We would rather go to bunkers than succumb to blackmail," Lukashenko said.

Medvedev argued Belarusian authorities were trying to justify their economic shortcomings.

"The president of Belarus was informed about a rise in gas prices in advance. And Belarus was proposed the most favorable terms of gas supplies, compared with other ex-Soviet republics," Medvedev said.

Source:

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20061229/58123954.html

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