Medvedev orders energy czar to restore power

MOSCOW: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told energy czar Igor Sechin on Saturday to restore power supplies to the ex-Soviet country of Belarus, a Kremlin statement said.

Deputy Prime Minister Sechin, who oversees Russia's oil and gas sectors, earlier this week defended Moscow's power supply cut to its western neighbour Belarus, which is suffering from a balance of payments crisis.

The power outage forced Minsk to pay off overdue electricity bills of around 1.2 billion roubles ($42.48 million) for supplies in March, April and May.

"With a view to Minsk's fulfillment of its financial obligations, the president gave an order to restore supplies of electricity to Belarus," the Kremlin said.

Power group InterRAO said it was planning to restore electricity to Belarus on Saturday.

Sechin, a staunch ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, earlier said that the cut off had nothing to do with politics.

Analysts say Moscow is trying to boost its leverage over Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, pushing him to sell off assets which are being eyed by some of Russia's most powerful business groups.

Belarus is a major conduit for Russian oil and gas exports westward to European Union countries and its previous price disputes with Moscow have disrupted these supplies.

Belarus imports power which is in some cases cheaper than domestically produced electricity, but has enough capacity at its own plants to meet local demand.

Copyright Reuters, 2011