VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW – Russia’s gas monopoly said Thursday it is resuming supplies to Belarus now that it has paid a $200 million bill, but the ex-Soviet neighbor is in turn threatening to stop the transit of gas on to other European countries unless Moscow settles its own debts.
The dispute, which has already caused a 40 percent slide in Russian gas supplies to EU member Lithuania, comes as a sobering reminder of the risks to Europe’s energy supplies posed by politically-charged disputes between Russia and its neighbors. A similar row with Ukraine last year cut off heating to millions in the middle of winter.
Alexei Miller, the chief of Russia’s state-controlled natural gas company Gazprom, told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that supplies to Belarus would resume Thursday, the Kremlin said.