Translated material
Open, Mosgaz!
Belarus will pay for gas, but at the expense of the Russian budget
The next oil and gas conflict of allies ended the day before the new tariffs for the transit of Russian oil were supposed to enter into force. Both Belarus and Russia announced that they had agreed on everything. And both with victorious intonations.
“As I understand it, the next battles are over,” said Alexander Lukashenko on Monday, when Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko came to him with a report. He replied: "We received a simultaneous reduction in gas price this year."
True, on the same day, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev sternly stated that “our partners will return to the execution of the contract. It will properly pay the price that is provided for in the contract on the basis of the existing formula. ” However, they always commented on the results of negotiations in such a way that it was impossible to understand what would happen to the gas price and who lied to. Since the beginning of the year, the Belarusian government, without agreeing with Gazprom, began to pay for the gas as much as it considered necessary: 73 dollars for a thousand cubic meters instead of 132 dollars recorded in an intergovernmental agreement. In response, Russia reduced oil supplies to Belarusian oil refineries, and Belarus has increased tariffs for the transportation of Russian oil through main pipelines by 50%. By the beginning of October, the conflict entered the sharp phase.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Energy of Belarus, Vladimir Poddchik, told reporters that Belarus would still pay $ 281 million, which should Russia, until October 20. True, for some reason he specified that this money is not a debt to Russia, but simply underpayment: that is, we owe nothing, we just pay, how and when we want. Moreover, it turned out that this money was reserved in advance in the budget-that is, just in case, they did not touch it, the pensioners were not handed out: suddenly they still have to pay? But they did not pay, conducting long multi -level negotiations: maybe it will be possible to pinch and not pay?
Belarus, of course, will pay, since she promised, and will pay for gas according to the previous formula (the price for the Yamalo-Nenets district, plus transportation, plus storage) until 2019, but for this Russia will provide it with inter-budget compensation. The amount of compensation has not yet been completely defined-this is a topic for individual negotiations, the result of which, as usual in Belarusian-Russian relations, can be predicted in general, but not in numbers. Although de facto interbudget compensation means a decrease in gas price without signing a new agreement. Just the difference in price between 73 dollars per thousand cubic meters that Minsk wanted, and 132 dollars that Moscow insisted on, will pay the Russian side - from the budget to the budget.
So today the ball has nevertheless ended up on the Belarusian side of the field. Not only intergovernmental, but also moral compensation for the next refusal of the IMF in the loan. Alexander Lukashenko called the IMF recommendations a week earlier. By the way, in those recommendations, nothing new except the need for reforms was written. But why reforms? If any gas concession can be achieved in the East - the main thing is that it is beautifully formulated, as if it were the Kremlin itself, the ally has noble - you can once again try to play the same game with the West.
This is probably the unusual statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Vladimir Make in Warsaw. October 11-after the parties agreed, and Russia promised compensation, Makei said: “We want to get away from this strong dependence, to be less dependent on one state, which is especially damage during periods of financial and economic crises.” Actually, complete dependence on one state during all periods is bad. Just at another time, Belarusian officials for some reason do not remember this. So the Belarusian-Russian relations depend not even on the price of gas, but on the ruble exchange rate and the world oil price. If the dollar is 30 rubles, and oil is $ 100, then no dependence is inquired. But when, on the contrary, we suspend us, please, new reliable comrades, but more.