Belarus may cut off gas transit to Europe only in emergency – Lukashenko
<p> MINSK, Dec 13 - PrimePress. Minsk would choose to cut off gas transit to Europe only in an emergency if the Belarusian government finds no other way to respond to western sanctions with other steps, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with the Turkish TRT broadcaster on Dec 9. </p> <p> </p> <p> “If the sanctions that they impose or will impose in the future push us into dire straits and we have no other way to respond to their sanctions with other steps, then we will use this stringent measure as well,” the BelTA agency quoted him as saying during the interview. </p> <p> </p> <p> On 13 December, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the statement by the Belarusian president: “We still want to hope that nothing will prevent the Russian Federation from continuing to flawlessly fulfill its obligations under the existing contracts.” </p> <p> </p> <p> On 30 Nov 2021, in an interview with Dmitry Kiselyov, General Director at the Russian state news agency MIA Russia Today, Lukashenko confirmed his readiness to take tough retaliatory measures in response to Poland’s possible closure of the border. He noted that if Belarus closed its borders, the transit of goods from the European Union (EU) to Russia and China, including the transportation of energy resources, would stop. </p> <p> </p> <p> On 11 Nov 2021, Lukashenko threatened to cut off gas transit and block cargo traffic to Europe in response to another portion of sanctions that may be imposed by the European Union. He explained that the Yamal-Europe transnational gas export pipeline runs through Belarus, and the volume of gas transit from Russia to the West has recently increased significantly. Polish officials repeatedly stated that they were considering the option of completely closing traffic across the Belarusian-Polish border in response to disturbances by illegal migrants at the border. </p> <p> </p> <p> On 2 December 2021, the EU, the US, the UK and Canada adopted new sanctions against Belarus. In particular, the U.S. expanded its Belarus sanctions list by including another 20 Belarusian individuals, 12 legal entities and two aircraft; the EU added 17 individuals and 11 legal entities, and the UK imposed sanctions on Belaruskali and eight individuals. End </p> <p> </p>
2021-12-14
Primepress
Belarus may cut off gas transit to Europe only in emergency – Lukashenko
MINSK, Dec 13 - PrimePress. Minsk would choose to cut off gas transit to Europe only in an emergency if the Belarusian government finds no other way to respond to western sanctions with other steps, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with the Turkish TRT broadcaster on Dec 9.
“If the sanctions that they impose or will impose in the future push us into dire straits and we have no other way to respond to their sanctions with other steps, then we will use this stringent measure as well,” the BelTA agency quoted him as saying during the interview.
On 13 December, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the statement by the Belarusian president: “We still want to hope that nothing will prevent the Russian Federation from continuing to flawlessly fulfill its obligations under the existing contracts.”
On 30 Nov 2021, in an interview with Dmitry Kiselyov, General Director at the Russian state news agency MIA Russia Today, Lukashenko confirmed his readiness to take tough retaliatory measures in response to Poland’s possible closure of the border. He noted that if Belarus closed its borders, the transit of goods from the European Union (EU) to Russia and China, including the transportation of energy resources, would stop.
On 11 Nov 2021, Lukashenko threatened to cut off gas transit and block cargo traffic to Europe in response to another portion of sanctions that may be imposed by the European Union. He explained that the Yamal-Europe transnational gas export pipeline runs through Belarus, and the volume of gas transit from Russia to the West has recently increased significantly. Polish officials repeatedly stated that they were considering the option of completely closing traffic across the Belarusian-Polish border in response to disturbances by illegal migrants at the border.
On 2 December 2021, the EU, the US, the UK and Canada adopted new sanctions against Belarus. In particular, the U.S. expanded its Belarus sanctions list by including another 20 Belarusian individuals, 12 legal entities and two aircraft; the EU added 17 individuals and 11 legal entities, and the UK imposed sanctions on Belaruskali and eight individuals. End