BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/05/2007

Late hitch in Russia-Belarus deal

A deal for Russia to acquire a stake in the Belarus pipeline network which carries Russian gas to Europe will not be signed today as planned.

'Negotiations are continuing today,' Belarus government spokesman Alexander Timoshenko said, adding that a new date for signature of the agreement would be announced only after the talks were completed.

The deal, under which Russian gas giant Gazprom was to acquire a 50% stake in the Belarus gas pipeline monopoly Beltransgaz, was hammered out shortly after midnight last New Year's Eve amid a Russia-Belarus energy dispute that threatened to disrupt gas supplies to Europe.

The agreement was to have been signed on Friday and news of the last-minute snag came as a surprise. Timoshenko said the unresolved disagreement between Gazprom and Belarus centred on one point in the accord, but declined to provide further details.

Source:

http://www.rte.ie/business/2007/0518/belarus.html

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