MOGILEV, May 12. /TASS/. Belarusian Energy Minister Vladimir Potupchik said that Minsk considers $73 per 1,000 cubic meters as a fair price for Russian gas.

"Today 73 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters (of gas) is an equal-netback market price in our view," he said Thursday.

Currently, the gas price for Belarus stands at $142 per 1,000 cubic meters.

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

"Today the price for Germany and Ukraine net of customs duty is substantially less than for Belarus," the minister said, adding that Minsk has "the legal basis for insisting on implementation of the whole of the intergovernmental (gas) agreement."

In early April Belarusian Prime Minister Andrey Kobyakov said he considered $80 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas to be a reasonable price for Belarus.

 Russia and Belarus to continue consultations on gas price

According to Russia's Energy Minister  Alexander Novak, the heads of governments of Russia and Belarus have discussed the debt for Russian gas and the gas price issue.

"They instructed us to continue consultations regarding the gas price," Novak said.

The minister said that finding solution for the gas price issue and Belarus's debt for gas are not linked with each other.

Earlier on Thursday, Novak said that the Belarusian debt for gas to Gazprom had exceeded $125 mln in four months of 2016.

In his turn, Belarus’ Energy Minister Vladimir Potupchik said that Belarus had no debt to Gazprom. According to him, Belarus pays in accordance with the intergovernmental agreement, but the parties have different interpretations of it.