Kommersant: Gas Relations of Moscow and Minsk Are Deteriorating

Gas Relations of Moscow and Minsk have been relaxed during these five years, but they may exacerbate.

Russian Kommersant writes.

Amid disputes on the price of the Russian gas for Belarus, local enterprises now pay off-contract price. It happened in 2010, Gazprom then held an aggressive reduction of gas supply.

Now the Russian monopoly control over Belarus' gas transport system, and is forced to play by local rules and entirely act in the legal field of Minsk. As a result, structures of Gazprom had to postpone proceedings in the International Court of Arbitration, the edition notes.

On May 3 Gazprom transgaz Belarus (a subsidiary of Gazprom in Belarus) filed a claim in international arbitration of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce against local distribution companies, since January 1 they have underpaid for gas, Kommersant informs.

For more than six months Minsk's been negotiating with Gazprom and Russia's government to reduce the price. The main argument is that Russia, according to intergovernmental agreement, should have taken an equal-netback pricing. When the gas price in Europe dropped, it could hardly affect Belarus.

"Members of the arbitrage in the dispute with the Belarusian party should be composed within a month, the judgment must be delivered within three months since that date," Andrei Vashkevich, partner of attorneys at law "Stepanovsky, Papakul and Partners".

However, according to Vashkevich, the terms for the judgment are not regulated and it may take about six months.

In her turn, Olga Nikolaeva, partner of attorneys at law "VMP Vlasova, Mikhel and Partners", notes that heads of Belarusian enterprises, as a rule, prefer waiting for the court's decision, not to solicit a truce.