Belarus-Russian gas row defused as Minsk pays off debt

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2007

MOSCOW (AFP) — A row in which Russia's Gazprom threatened to cut gas supplies to Belarus was defused on Wednesday when Minsk completed payment of its 456-million-dollar (331-million-euro) debt to the company.

A Gazprom spokeswoman told AFP that the company "received on Wednesday the last transfer of payment owed by Beltransgaz," the Belarussian gas pipeline operator, for the first half of this year.

The row between Russia and its smaller ex-Soviet neighbour raised alarm bells in the European Union last week as Gazprom threatened to reduce supplies to Belarus by almost half if Minsk did not pay off its debt by August 3.

West European consumers receive about 20 percent of their Russian gas via Belarus.

Fears eased when Belarus made its first payment on...