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Russia hopes nothing will hamper fulfillment of obligations under gas contracts — Kremlin

Earlier, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Minsk would cut off the transit of gas to Europe if new western sanctions put the country in emergency

MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. Russia hopes that no factors will hamper it to flawlessly continue fulfilling its obligations under its existing gas contracts, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"We still want to hope that nothing will prevent the Russian Federation from continuing to flawlessly fulfill its obligations under existing contracts," he said. Peskov was commenting on the words of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko who said that Minsk may resort to the suspension of gas transit if the republic finds itself in a "state of emergency," due to Western sanctions.

Earlier in an interview with the Turkish TRT broadcaster, Lukashenko said that Minsk would use "this tough measure" meaning cut off the transit of gas to Europe if new western sanctions put the country in emergency.

On November 11, speaking at a cabinet meeting, Lukashenko threatened the European Union to cut off the transit of gas to Europe, which goes through the Yamal-Europe transnational gas pipeline, in case Brussels expands sanctions against Minsk. Russian President Vladimir Putin then expressed the hope that it would not come to Belarus cutting off the transit of Russian gas.

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