Belarus president criticizes Russia for overpriced oil

Minsk, January 9 – Neftegaz.RU. Several aspects of Belarusian-Russian negotiations on prices for oil & gas were revealed by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko during the ceremony to confer a number of special prizes upon outstanding Belarusians, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “Why haven't we come to terms on oil deliveries with the Russian president yet? Because Russia wants us to buy oil at prices above the world ones. Totally unacceptable. This is why I've rejected the offer to buy such oil and plainly said we will find oil in some other place if Russia refuses to sell oil at the world price. And we have found oil.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko also made some comments about negotiations on prices for Russian gas for Belarus. He described his arguments as simple: “The 75th anniversary of the Great Victory is near. We are shouting about it from every rooftop both in Russia and Belarus. But today Gazprom earns 3 times as much in Belarus than in Germany. Is it normal? It is abnormal,” the head of state stressed.

The sides have reached an agreement on supplying gas on previous terms for a certain period of time for now. “When we decided to sell [the Belarusian gas transport system operating company] Beltransgaz in 2011, we had an inflexible agreement that we will reach Russian domestic prices for gas over the course of 5 years,” Aleksandr Lukashenko reminded. “Someone may have forgotten it but I haven't. This is why I insist it must be done.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that after the negotiations on oil & gas began, representatives of the Belarusian opposition woke up for some reason and started shouting about the loss of sovereignty. He said they believe Belarus should have severed tight relations with Russia a long time ago.

“If we did that, you and I wouldn't exist now. Russia is not just a huge country and a friendly nation. It is a country we bought raw materials from. And most importantly it is our common market since there is an abundance of raw materials, we can buy them in any country. We reworked and refined everything in this space. If you look at the neighborly country of Ukraine, you will see what can happen and what may have happened [in Belarus]. Partially because everything was torn apart and broken and left bleeding,” Lukashenko believes.