Source in Russian Government: Russia is not going to pay extra money
8- 21.03.2008, 10:22
The Russian side is worried about some issues that are emerging in the cooperation with Belarus in energy sphere recently, told a source in Russian government to journalists.
On Friday Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov is to visit Belarus with a working visit. A meeting of Zubkov with Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Russian-Belarusian negotiations, and the first session of this year’s first council of ministers of the “union state” are planned in Minsk.
As said by the source, the Russian delegation is carrying out all agreements; in particular, Gazprom fulfils agreements on gas deliveries and on granting funds for selling shares of the joint venture “Beltransgaz”.
“We are interested in the Belarusian’s side to keep to all agreements,” the source informed.
He noted that the Russian side is worried about some issues that are emerging recently in the cooperation with Belarus in energy sphere. “These issues are not having an alarming character, but they worry us,” he said.
The source informed that the Russian side finds olbigatory non-tax payments from Mozyr refinery to Belarus’ special purpose fund inappropriate.
As said by the interlocutor of the agency, in particular, Beltransgaz should pay non-tax payments for $70 mln a year, while Mozyr oil-refinery – about $100 mln a year. Russian Slavneft is one of the shareholders of Mozyr oil refinery.
“We believe that non-tax payments shouldn’t be paied by Russian investors,” the source said.
