Russia on Thursday turned the gas taps back on for Belarus after a major diplomatic row as Minsk recalled its ambassador, accusing Moscow of "blackmail" for cutting off all gas supplies in freezing winter temperatures.
Russia's Gazprom natural gas giant on Wednesday halted gas supplies to Belarus, including deliveries destined for Western Europe, accusing the impoverished former Soviet republic of siphoning off transit gas.
Just under 24 hours later, Gazprom said in a statement received by AFP that its pipeline to Belarus had resumed transportation of gas after an independent producer signed a temporary supply contract with Minsk lasting until the end of February.
But a Gazprom spokesman cautioned that the underlying dispute remained unresolved.
"Unfortunately, these are once again half-measures which do not enable us to resolve the situation fully," he told the Interfax news agency.
The Belarusian government had issued a stinging denunciation of the Russian gas suspension, branding it as "flagrant blackmail and an unprecedented form of pressure on the Belarus people."
"Such an act, which deprived people of gas in winter when the temperature is almost minus 20, is without precedent since the Great Patriotic War (World War II)," a government statement said.
Belarus reduced energy supplies by half to enterprises and households across the country as experts quoted in the Russian press said Belarus has only enough supplies of gas to last it around 10 days.
Meanwhile the office of President Alexander Lukashenko announced that Minsk was recalling its ambassador to Russia, Vladimir Grigoryev, over the dispute - officially over gas prices but also about Russian efforts to take control of the pipeline network in Belarus.
Lukashenko said in a televised address that Belarus would have to strike a deal "on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's terms" even if this meant taking money away from social needs.
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