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Belarus is not raising a question of changing formula of payment for Russian gas

Earlier Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Belarus wants to revise the formula of payment for gas

MINSK, January 25. /TASS/. Belarus is raising the question of changing the pricing formula for Russian gas, Vladislav Sychevich, acting press secretary of the Prime Minister of Belarus said on Monday.

"The formula of gas price for Belarus was fixed in the intergovernmental agreement signed November 25, 2011 with regard to formation of prices for the supply of natural gas to Belarus and its transportation through pipelines located on the territory of our country ," - said the official representative of the Belarusian government.

According to him, "this formula is designed for the long term and will be applied in settlements for gas between the two countries to create a common gas market of the Eurasian Economic Union."

Sychevich said that "in order to create equal conditions for economic entities of our countries, the agreement also sets out a series of provisions specifying the formation of gas prices for Belarus."

According to the Belarusian official, the calculation of formula requires consideration of certain parameters and the information about the value of those parameters shall be provided by the Russian side. That is why Belarus initiated negotiations on the establishment of the mechanisms for sharing this information.

Sychevich said that "contacts, working meetings between the deputy prime ministers of our countries, the heads of supervising ministries and organizations concerned are of a purely technical nature and does not aim to change the formula for calculating the price."

Earlier Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Belarus wants to revise the formula of payment for gas.

On January 13, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and Belarus Vladimir Semashko held talks but failed to reach agreement about a discount on gas. According to Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky, an agreement had not been reached and the date of a new date was not set. Yanovsky added that it no longer concerns a 10% cut but implies concrete figures.

Deputy Energy Minister of Belarus Vadim Zakrevski previously told reporters that the Department of Energy expects to reduce the price of Russian gas in 2016 by more than $ 10 per 1,000 cubic meters. Although, he said, the acceptable price today is $142.37 per 1,000 cubic meters.