Russia-Belarus gas deal comes with mutually beneficial preferences - expert
<p> MINSK, Sep 10 - PrimePress. The gas agreements between Russia and Belarus give mutually beneficial preferences, said President of the Russian Association of Baltic Studies Nikolay Mezhevich. </p> <p> </p> <p> As previously reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on 9 September that Russia would keep the price for gas supplies to Belarus in 2022 at the level of 2021 - $128.5 per thousand cubic metres. Also, he said, a document to create a unified gas market within the Union State framework will be signed by 1 December 2023. A treaty on integrating the oil and oil products markets as well as an agreement on a single electricity market will be signed. </p> <p> </p> <p> “Strategic partnership relations do not imply dividing the purse strings into two equal halves; someone always gets preferential treatment in one issue. Russia is a country which produces gas; it supplies gas to itself and to many other consumers. We, of course, meet Belarus halfway. Not Alexander Lukashenko himself and his family, but 9.5 million Belarusians,” Prime reports citing Mezhevich as saying. </p> <p> </p> <p> In his words, it would be wrong to supply Russia’s ally Belarus with gas at the same price as, for example, Austria or a European country, a NATO member, which pay many times more for gas. </p> <p> </p> <p> Speaking about the prospects of creating a common gas market of the Union State, Mezhevich said that “everything will depend on the contractual capacity of the two sides and the global context”. “We understand that Russia-Belarus integration has been pushed by the actions of the collective West,” said Mezhevich. </p> <p> </p> <p> Generally speaking, everything that relates to the agreements on energy carriers, according to the analyst, “is certain preferences for the Belarusian party”. “But the small preferences that we give to Belarus are recouped by the benefits of market consolidation, common industrial policy and our security on the western frontiers,” he said. </p> <p> </p> <p> According to the analytical report "The Union State of Belarus and Russia: Outcomes for citizens and prospects" prepared by a joint working group of experts from Belarus and Russia under the auspices of the Gromyko Association for Foreign Policy Studies, the difference between Russian gas prices for Belarus and the average price of Russian gas in Europe over the past 10 years was $20bn. End </p>
2021-09-11
Primepress
Russia-Belarus gas deal comes with mutually beneficial preferences - expert
MINSK, Sep 10 - PrimePress. The gas agreements between Russia and Belarus give mutually beneficial preferences, said President of the Russian Association of Baltic Studies Nikolay Mezhevich.
As previously reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on 9 September that Russia would keep the price for gas supplies to Belarus in 2022 at the level of 2021 - $128.5 per thousand cubic metres. Also, he said, a document to create a unified gas market within the Union State framework will be signed by 1 December 2023. A treaty on integrating the oil and oil products markets as well as an agreement on a single electricity market will be signed.
“Strategic partnership relations do not imply dividing the purse strings into two equal halves; someone always gets preferential treatment in one issue. Russia is a country which produces gas; it supplies gas to itself and to many other consumers. We, of course, meet Belarus halfway. Not Alexander Lukashenko himself and his family, but 9.5 million Belarusians,” Prime reports citing Mezhevich as saying.
In his words, it would be wrong to supply Russia’s ally Belarus with gas at the same price as, for example, Austria or a European country, a NATO member, which pay many times more for gas.
Speaking about the prospects of creating a common gas market of the Union State, Mezhevich said that “everything will depend on the contractual capacity of the two sides and the global context”. “We understand that Russia-Belarus integration has been pushed by the actions of the collective West,” said Mezhevich.
Generally speaking, everything that relates to the agreements on energy carriers, according to the analyst, “is certain preferences for the Belarusian party”. “But the small preferences that we give to Belarus are recouped by the benefits of market consolidation, common industrial policy and our security on the western frontiers,” he said.
According to the analytical report "The Union State of Belarus and Russia: Outcomes for citizens and prospects" prepared by a joint working group of experts from Belarus and Russia under the auspices of the Gromyko Association for Foreign Policy Studies, the difference between Russian gas prices for Belarus and the average price of Russian gas in Europe over the past 10 years was $20bn. End