Belarus counting on reduction in gas price to Smolensk, Pskov levels - Belarusian ambassador to Russia

MOSCOW. May 6 (Interfax) - Belarus, within the framework of Union State programs, is counting on a reduction in the price of Russian gas to levels paid by Smolensk and Pskov, which border Belarus, the nation's ambassador to Russia Vladimir Semashko was quoted as saying by state news agency BelTA.

"The goal is clear to us - we have to come to a gas price for Belarus that is very close to that of Smolensk, Pskov, Veliky Novgorod. The same goes for oil and so on," Semashko said.

The terms for the operations of Belarus and Russia within the common gas market should be ready by July 1 of this year, he said. "The creation of a single economic base of the Union State is being executed through the implementation of 28 Union programs, providing for the creation of common markets for gas, oil, transport, the unification of financial, tax and customs spheres and so on. This work is in full swing. More than half of these programs, or to be more precise, their content, should be settled by July 1 of this year. In other words, we should already understand what, for example, the gas market will be like and what conditions it will work under," Semashko said.

The main agreements will come into force starting from the second half of this year, the ambassador said. "I repeat, most [preparatory matters] should be settled by July 1 this year and we should being working under new conditions starting from the second half of the year. And some more complicated issues - the unification of tax and customs legislation and so on - will be implemented by next year," he said.

As previously reported, in April, Belarus switched to payment in Russian rubles for natural gas supplied to the country. Belarusian authorities reported that the price of supplies in Russian rubles was fixed, but the cost of the deliveries was not publicly disclosed by the parties. Under the contract concluded at the end of last year, the price of gas for Belarus in the current year is $128.52/1,000 cubic meters.