Russia on Wednesday cut power supplies to cash-strapped Belarus after it failed to make a debt payment amid a severe economic crisis in the latest energy spat between the two uneasy neighbours. Belarus pledged to pay the bill but indicated it had enough energy to meet domestic demand and may stop buying power from Russia in the future.
"We will pay for the electricity we imported and consumed," Belarussian Economy Minister Nikolai Snopkov told a news conference without providing a timeframe. "But will we continue to import in the future?" he asked. "This will depend on the price of the electricity being produced on the domestic market and the cost of the electricity we can obtain on the foreign market. We have sufficient capacity to meet all our electricity needs." After repeated warnings to pay the debt, Russian power producer Inter RAO UES halted supplies to Belarus at midnight Moscow time (2000 GMT Tuesday), promising to restore deliveries within 24 hours of when the payment is made. "We expect that Belenergo will provide us with a payment in the next few days," company spokesman Anton Nazarov told AFP, referring to Belarus' state power firm.
Company officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Belarus owed Russia some 1.2 billion rubles ($42.5 million) for April and May supplies. Nazarov said energy supplies would resume as soon as the Belarussian company pays its April bill of 600 million rubles. Belarus receives only about a tenth of its electricity from Russia and the power cut-off is not expected to significantly affect households.
The spat comes amid a severe economic downturn plaguing Russia's neighbour. Moscow earlier this month signed off on a $3 billion three-year loan to Belarus in which other former Soviet republics participated. In recent years Russia and Belarus have often been at loggerheads over energy prices and customs duties. Last June, Russia significantly reduced gas supplies to Belarus over a similar payment dispute, briefly interrupting European supplies.