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Putin, Lukashenko to discuss gas prices for Belarus — Kremlin

The meeting of the two leaders is to take place on Wednesday

© Alexei Pavlishak/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, June 8 /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko will discuss gas prices for Belarus at a meeting on Wednesday, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

"As for the gas problems, there will certainly be issues, which are going to be raised at the bilateral meeting [between Putin and Lukashenko]," the Kremlin spokesman said.

The Russian president will visit Minsk later on Wednesday for holding talks with the president of Belarus and taking part in a plenary session of the forum of regions of the two countries.

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Earlier Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that so far Russia is not going to grant a discount on gas price to Belarus. According to him the current price of gas for Belarus is $132 per barrel.

Novak said that Belarusian gas debt to Gazprom for four months of this year exceeded $125 mln.

In his turn Belarusian Energy Minister Vladimir Potupchik said that Minsk considers $73 per 1,000 cubic meters as a fair price for Russian gas.

According to Potupchik, the Belarusian side "is speaking not about a (gas) discount but about market-based equal-netback pricing."

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