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MINSK, Mar 31 (PRIME) -- Belarus does not acknowledge debt for Russian natural gas and will continue negotiations to settlement of the dispute between the two countries, Vladislav Sychevich, spokesman of the Belarusian prime minister, told PRIME on Friday.
On Thursday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Moscow and Minsk had failed to solve their energy dispute as Belarus is not ready to redeem a U.S. $700 million debt without significant preferences from Russia, and called the Minsk position “unconstructive”.
“Speaking of the statement made by Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Belarus being unready to redeem the so-called debt to Russia for gas, the Belarusian side does not see the sum as a debt,” Sychevich said.
He said that Minsk believes that Novak’s statement is “unconstructive”, as it did not correspond to what was negotiated during the latest meeting. Belarus has repeatedly said it is interested in solving the dispute as soon as possible.
“But the Belarusian side insists either on complete and unconditioned implementation of the November 2011 intergovernmental agreement on gas pricing and a corresponding legal framework, or on coordination of mutually acceptable changes to the agreement,” he said.
During the Thursday talks, Moscow and Minsk agreed to continue negotiations in a constructive way and reach a mutually acceptable result, he added.
In early 2016, Minsk said that Russian prices for gas are unfair and started paying less for it unilaterally. Moscow cut duty-free oil supplies to Belarus saying there were shortfalls in duty-free oil product shipments to Russia, which Minsk was to carry out in return for the oil.
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