Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Belarus

Belarusian Leader Pledges To Settle Russian Gas Debt

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka (file photo) (ITAR-TASS)

August 2, 2007 -- Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has said his country will pay back a $456 million debt to Russia for gas supplies in the coming days.

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August 02, 2007

His remarks come one day after Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly, threatened to reduce deliveries to Belarus by 45 percent unless Minsk settles its debt by August 3.

Gazprom in January more than doubled the price it charges Belarus for natural-gas deliveries. Belarus has asked Gazprom to delay its gas payments, but the two sides have been unable to reach an agreement.

The European Commission on August 1 urged the two nations to swiftly resolve their dispute.

Vitali Silitski, the director of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, today told RFE/RL that the delayed payment does not indicate an economic crisis on the Belarusian side, but is instead the result of Minsk's political maneuvering.

(Compiled from agency reports)

Politics In Belarus

Demonstrators in Minsk on March 25 (RFE/RL)

WHAT HAPPENED? Belarus scholar Vitali Silitski and RFE/RL Belarus analyst Jan Maksymiuk took a look a how Belarus has changed since mass demonstrations in Minsk in March 2006 failed to produce meaningful change in that country.

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