Belarus is ready for a compromise in energy disputes with Russia, President Alexander Lukashenko said.
“We are sensible people and we are ready for compromises, but they must be honest”, Lukashenko said.
He said that the negotiations had made some progress lately and that there were certain “new proposals” from Russia.
“I think that the Russian president has intervened in this issue. We hope these issues will be solved”, Lukashenko said.
Spokesman for the Russian president Dmitry Peskov said he was sure that the energy disputes with Belarus would be solved and that the countries would remain allies in spite of the commercial disagreements.
“We are two ally states, Russia and Belarus, which is why the contacts have not been broken even amid unavoidable commercial disputes”, Peskov said.
In July Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Belarus owed Russian gas giant Gazprom $270 million. Gazprom said Minsk underpaid the company for gas, while Belarusian Energy Minister Vladimir Potupchik said that the fair price would amount to $73 per 1,000 cubic meters instead of $132.77. Minsk did not acknowledge the debt.
The Belarusian antitrust body earlier decided to raise the tariff for transit of Russian oil by 50% on average starting from October 11. The Russian antitrust body and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft rejected the increase. (Prime/Business World Magazine)