Belarus demands Russian domestic gas prices as one of the prerequisites for the sale of Beltransgaz shares to Russian company Gazprom. As First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko reported on June 7, the agreement is almost ready for signing.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Belarus links Beltransgaz stake sale with signing a new contract for the Russian gas supply, BelTA informs.
«The current contract ends on December 31, 2011. We are now discussing a draft contract for 2012-2014, incorporating new approaches. These approaches are based on the package of agreements, signed on December 9, 2010, creating a Common Economic Space,» said Vladimir Semashko.
Vice-Premier said that the two sides signed a total of 17 documents. One of the basic documents, aimed to create a unified gas market, suggests synchronous passing of Belarus and Russia to equal pricing by 2015.
«This suggests a very different pricing system, and for us — different prices, approaches. We are now in the process of negotiations, and if those two issues converge, we are ready to sign two documents even today — a gas supply contract and contract on Beltransgaz stake sale,» said Vladimir Semashko.
According to Telegraf, chairman of the Russian company Gazprom, Alexei Miller, has formerly expressed his dissatisfaction with Belarus’s linking the signing of the contract on Beltransgaz purchase with future gas supplies to Belarus. «The question of buying the shares and a new contract are two different documents, and it’s no use trying to fit different arrangements in a single document,» stressed Gazprom head.
