BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/12/2006

'No breakthrough' in Belarus gas talks

From correspondents in Moscow

RUSSIAN gas monopoly Gazprom said on Saturday it saw no immediate breakthrough with Belarus on talks on a new price for Russian gas due to the low level of the delegation Minsk had sent to Moscow

Gazprom has repeatedly voiced concerns that a lack of a new gas pricing contract with Belarus could disrupt gas supplies to consumers in Europe. The old contract expires on January 1, 2007.

"The talks are under way. But one should not expect any breakthrough after these meetings, unless the main negotiator - Belarussian First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko - arrives in Moscow," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said.

Gazprom said on Thursday it would not change its latest offer and wanted Belarus to pay $133 per 1000 cubic metres from 2007, up from $58 now.

The latest round of gas talks with Belarus ended abruptly late on Friday after Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said he would not tolerate Russia's "blackmail" and his nation would rather "go into the bunkers but will not surrender".

A Belarussian Government spokesman said it remained unclear if Semashko would be sent to Moscow for talks with Gazprom.

"This contract is to be signed by Gazprom and (Belarussian gas pipeline company) Beltransgaz," he said. The head of Beltransgaz is in Moscow now.

The row with Belarus, hitherto a loyal Kremlin ally even as other ex-Soviet republics sought to move out of Moscow's orbit, is part of a wider drive by Gazprom to bring its prices in the former Soviet Union closer to European levels.

Source:

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20992474-5003402,00.html