Russia's gas monopoly said today it is resuming supplies to Belarus now that it has paid a near-$200 million bill, but the ex-Soviet neighbor is in turn threatening to stop the transit of gas on to other European countries unless Moscow settles its own debts, AP reported. The dispute, which briefly caused a 40 percent drop in Russian gas supplies to EU member Lithuania, comes as a sobering reminder of the risks to Europe's energy supplies posed by politically-charged disputes between Russia and its neighbors. A similar row with Ukraine last year cut off heating to millions in the middle of winter. Alexei Miller, the chief of Russia's state-controlled natural gas company Gazprom, has said supplies to Belarus would resume Thursday, according to the Kremlin. But Belarus, which on Wednesday said it had paid its $187 million debt to Russia, demanded in return that Moscow pay what it claims is a $260 million bill for transit of gas to the West. Belarus has threatened to cut off gas transit on Thursday if Moscow doesn't pay up. Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said at a briefing that the company had paid Belarus $228 million in transit fees, in line with the contract, but that Belarus was demanding a higher fee that Gazprom rejects. Belarus quickly responded by saying that Russia must pay a higher price or face a proportionate cut in transit supplies. Kupriyanov rejected the demand and said the company wouldn't pay more. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin backed that position, saying changes in transit fees should be subject to separate talks. Miller told Putin that overall transit shipments of Russian gas to the European Union nations fell by 20 percent Wednesday because Belarus siphoned gas intended for export. EU member Lithuania, which gets all of its Russian gas via Belarus, reported a 40 percent drop in supplies on Wednesday, EU's energy chief Guenther Oettinger said. -- SPA
