Russia sends back Belarus’ advance payment, expects full pay
Russia has sent back Belarus’ advance payment and is waiting for the full payment, Russian vice PM Akradi Dvorkovich told journalists. “The negotiations are complicated. We do not need an advance payment. It was sent back to them long ago,” TASS quotes the official.
The full sum of the debt is $281 million.
An advance payment has been transferred to Russia ‘as a goodwill gesture’, the Belarusian government announced earlier. The sum was not revealed.
Belarus-Russia gas conflict started as a result of the decrease in the world oil prices. Minsk decided that the fair price for Russian gas was $73 for one thousand cubic metres. Russia kept insisting on using the existing contract. The gas formula had to include the cost of oil, transit, storage and sale at the local market. The current gas price totals $132 for Belarus.
The two states tried reaching a compromise in October. Belarus promised to pay the gas debt by October 21, the Minister of Energy said back then.
