BELARUS: Belarus agrees to pay gas debt to Russia, but accuses Moscow of hostile economic takeover of the country

Accusing Russia of launching a hostile economic takeover of his country, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko grudgingly promised on Thursday (August 2) to repay a half billion dollar gas debt. Lukashenko launched his tirade a day before Russian gas monopoly Gazprom was due to make good on a threat to halve deliveries to Belarus, a vital transit route for oil and gas shipments to Europe. While repaying the 456 million U.S. dollar gas debt may avert possible supply disruptions to Poland and Germany, Lukashenko's rhetoric heralded a slide in relations, just as Russia prepares for parliamentary and presidential elections. Lukashenko, who runs a Soviet-style command economy and has been dubbed by the United States as "Europe's last dictator", accused Russia of using its power to seize economic control. "When we signed these agreements about the gas problems, I frankly and honestly told Putin we will sign them, but you should know that in this year, the year 2007, we will not be able to pay more than half of the price. He answered me the following: "We will not create problems for our Belarussian brothers. Recently some advisers say I should go to the Kremlin and go on my knees, maybe somebody will go down his knees, but I will not. That is why we had an agreement with Gazprom, which lasted until July that we will pay as soon as we get a loan. But we never got the loan, so now we own them 460 million dollars for half a year of gas usage, at they huge price they charge us," Lukashenko said. Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on Thursday (August 2) that Lukashenko's pledge to repay the debt provided "hopeful signals." Gazprom's threat echoed previous disputes between Russia and its neighbours -- Belarus and Ukraine -- which caused gas and oil supply cuts to Europe in the past three winters, underlying Europe's heavy dependence on Russian energy resources. This time, Gazprom has told European customers it is ready to use alternative routes to ensure steady supplies, and take legal action if Belarus siphons off gas from transit pipelines.

ITN Source | August 3, 2007

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