Kommersant: Row between Moscow and Minsk won’t be stopped even by paying off for gas
9- 24.06.2010, 15:27
Belarus transferring money for Russian gas has not stopped the gas war. And it is no wonder.
According to Kommersant newspaper, Russia, the reason of the row is not only the debt of Minsk to Gazprom, but accumulated displeasure of the leadership of Russia over the recent actions of the neighbouring country.
The current gas dispute has become a second economic war for Russia since the beginning of the year. Like in the first time, its adversary was Minsk. In January the sides had a dispute over oil duties, and now the formal reason was Belarus’ debt for Russian gas. However, while in the beginning of the year the amount involved was about $2 billion, now the sum for war is rather modest by Gazprom standards, $192 mln. Moreover, on the first day of the conflict the authorities of Belarus acknowledged the debt, and yesterday repaid the debt to Gazprom.
All that convinces experts that the gas debt issue is just a pretext for Moscow to shut down the gas tap. “In order to collect the debt it was not necessary to bottleneck the pipeline, believes RusEnergy partner Mikhail Krutikhin.
“The reasons of the conflict lie in the sphere of politics,” believes deputy General director of the Political Technologies Centre Alexei Makarkin.
The political underpinning of the current gas war is confirmed by sources of Kommersant in the government and the Foreign Ministry of Russia as well. “It is a rather little sum for a debt. But even $200 mln is money during the crisis. It concerns not only gas,” said the interlocutor of Kommersant in the Russian government.
Recently Alyaksandr Lukashenka really gave Moscow many handles for irritation. The latest and the most painful for Russia was Lukashenka’s deliberate denial to send his prime minister Syarhei Sidorski to St Petersburg o sign documents on creation of a single customs territory in the framework of the Customs Union. Heads of the governments of Russia and Kazakhstan, Vladimir Putin and Karim Masimov had to sign the agreement in two. This demarche has put under risk Moscow’s plans to finish creation of the trilateral union by July 1.
This conflict has a personal dimension as well. “Over this year Lukashenka took the liberty to make several hits at Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin,” reminded an analyst, a former deputy of the Belarusian “parliament” Volha Abramava (Abramova). Last year the issue of giving Belarus the Russian loan caused a heated argument between Lukashenka and Kudrin, and then the Belarusian leader made public attacks against Russian Prime Minister Kudrin, charging him even with thwarting integration of the two countries.
