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MINSK, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - A possible increase in the price of Russian natural gas will not provoke an economic crisis in Belarus, the country's deputy prime minister said Wednesday.
Belarus has enjoyed significantly subsidized prices for natural gas from Russia - at $46.7 per 1,000 cubic meters it currently pays well below the price Gazprom charges other consumers - but the Russian energy giant has said it will seek a substantial increase in the future.
But Andrei Kobyakov said natural gas prices were rising in Russia itself and so the rates for Belarus would be hammered out in talks.
"The differences in prices for gas for Belarus and Russia are the subject of negotiations," he said.
Gazprom is in talks with Belarus' Beltransgaz to take a stake in the pipeline company. The Russian giant has reportedly failed so far to gain control over the Belarusian pipeline network, which is widely seen as a condition for preserving the price subsidies.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko dismissed suggestions Monday that his country was seeking to maintain friendship with Russia to continue enjoying subsidized energy prices.
"We do not seek that [cheap oil and gas], as we are capable of maintaining cooperation in the areas we have outlined," he said.
He also said Belarus provided jobs to over 5 million Russian citizens, and that bilateral trade had tripled in the past 10 years via a customs union, an economic project being pursued by Russia and Belarus along with two other former Soviet nations - Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
