Report: Putin: Belarus can in theory shut off gas supply to Europe

MOSCOW, Nov 15 (PRIME) -- Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko can theoretically order to suspend supplies of Russian gas to Europe although it is infringement of the transit contract, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television channel on November 13.

“Theoretically, of course, Lukashenko as a president of a transit state can probably give an order to shut off our supplies to Europe. Although it is infringement of our transit contract, and I hope it will not run to that,” he said.

“But on the other hand, they are constantly imposing and threatening to impose new sanctions against him,” Putin also said, adding that the practice of shutting off Russian gas supplies to Europe was once used by Ukraine in 2008.

Putin said that such a move could have hurt Europe’s energy industry much and would not have supported Russia–Belarusian relations and he promised to discuss the issue with Lukashenko.

Earlier in November, Lukashenko advised the E.U. to think about gas and cargoes transit through Belarus before introducing new sanctions.

Putin said that Russian air companies and Belarus’s Belavia did not transport migrants to the Belarusian–Polish border.

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