Peskov: Russia hopes Minsk does not halt gas transit to Europe

MOSCOW, Nov 15 (PRIME) -- Moscow hopes that Minsk will decide against preventing Russian gas from being transited to Europe, but Belarus is a sovereign state with its own policy, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

“Let me remind you that (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin previously said that Belarus is a sovereign state, and he does not rule out emotional decisions on the part of the Belarusian president,” Peskov said.

“And secondly, President still expressed hope and even confidence that this will in no way affect gas transit and Russia’s fulfillment of its obligations to the gas recipients in Europe.”

Peskov also told reporters that diversification of the transit routes will not hurt Russian gas transit via Belarus.

“The launch of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline does not mean a cut in the volumes of transit via the territory of Belarus,” he said.

On Thursday, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko advised the EU against imposing sanctions against Minsk, as the country has the gas and cargo transit leverage. For example, the Yamal–Europe gas export pipeline runs through Belarus.

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