Russia to lower cost of gas for Belarus in return for debt settlement - Semashko
MINSK. Oct 10 (Interfax) - The cost of Russian gas for Belarus will be lowered substantially once Minsk has settled debt for previous gas supplies, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said.
Agreement had been reached for the repayment to Russia of "a certain accrued amount" which Russia views as debt for gas supplies, the Belarusian BelTA news agency quoted Semashko as saying.
"We have to give that money back, but, in exchange we received an immediate substantial reduction of the price of gas as early as this year as well as other support from Russia," he said.
Semashko said Belarus and Russia had "outlined a trajectory for price reductions in the years to come."
Semashko said that a formal lowering of gas prices would take place with effect from July 1, 2016. He did not name a specific price, citing a corresponding agreement with the Russian side.
The deputy prime minister said that the mechanism for lowering prices "was not very direct."
"There are more complicated mechanisms there, like how to actually ensure the trajectory and in what manner Belarus would specifically benefit from it," he said.
Semashko also did not state the amount to be repaid by Belarus for earlier supplied Russian gas, but said that Minsk must return the money by October 25.
"But I will ask my Russian colleagues for it to be done in a few installments. Maybe, until the end of the year," he said.
He said that the Belarusian side did not consider this money to be debt.
"To be honest, on the basis of those existing agreements, we had the possibility to keep even more than $50 for every thousand cubic meters of gas. The fact that we have kept $25 is our compromise toward the Russian Federation," Semashko said.
"Since Russia has moved toward other specific concessions and is otherwise closing that issue for us, even more than that, we are saying that we will return the accrued amount. I don't even refer to it as debt," he said.