MINSK, June 20 (Reuters) – Belarus said it was sending a
delegation to Moscow on Sunday for emergency talks with Russian
gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) after the two failed to resolve a
price row that has raised the spectre for European gas cuts.
Russia has said it will cut 85 percent of gas supplies from
Monday to transit country Belarus if its ex-Soviet neighbour
fails to pay $192 million in debt to Gazprom, which Minsk denies
it owes.

“The delegation leaves tonight for talks on Monday…the
issue of debt will be discussed,” Belarussian Deputy Energy
Minister Eduard Tovpenets told Reuters.

ST PETERSBURG, Russia/SHKLOV, Belarus, June 18 (Reuters) -
Russia said it will cut 85 percent of gas supplies to Belarus
from Monday if its ex-Soviet neighbour fails to pay $192 million
in debt to Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), which Minsk denied it owes.

Europe pays close attention to Russia’s gas price rows with
its neighbours after its supplies to Europe came to a halt for
almost two weeks in January 2009 while Moscow and Ukraine argued
over prices and transit terms.

LAPPEENRANTA/MINSK, May 27 (Reuters) – A Belarussian offer
to sell control of its major energy assets to Russian firms was
unlikely to solve existing problems in energy price talks
between the two nations, Russia’s energy minister said.

President Alexander Lukashenko earlier on Thursday said
Belarus would sell control of its national gas grid Beltransgaz
and the Mozyr oil refinery in exchange for lower Russian oil and
gas prices. [ID:nLDE64Q21Y]

MINSK (Reuters) – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday he would not hand over Kyrgyzstan’s ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to face charges over the violent upheaval in the Central Asian nation last month.

In an interview with Reuters the same day that Kyrgyzstan’s interim government ordered prosecutors to seek Bakiyev’s extradition, Lukashenko said such a request would be futile.

MINSK, April 27 (Reuters) – Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko warned citizens on Tuesday to be on guard against Kyrgyz-style turmoil, suggesting outside forces were bent on pushing him from power as a 2011 presidential election approaches.

"We have a crucial campaign ahead of us, an arduous campaign," local news agencies quoted Lukashenko as telling villagers on a visit to eastern Belarus. He said that if he sought another term, as is expected, "it will get even harder."

"You must not relax, in order not to permit what is happening in some republics, what recently happened in Kyrgyzstan," he said. "This is what we don’t need. If somebody is applauding and rejoicing, it’s not the Kyrgyz people."

Lukashenko was referring to an April 7 uprising that ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and killed at least 85 people in the Central Asian nation.

The authoritarian leader’s statement may be seen as a tough warning to Belarus’s vocal but fragmented opposition, which staged street protests after Lukashenko’ re-election in a 2006 vote judged to be neither free nor fair by the West.

The next presidential election is due in February 2011. Lukashenko, in power in the former Soviet republic since 1994, oversaw constitutional amendments in 2005 that removed limits on the number of terms he can serve.



KYRGYZ SYNDROME?

The 55-year-old leader, who once pledged to build a "union state" with giant neighbour Russia but has since fallen out with Moscow, has rapped its prompt recognition of the interim government that claimed power in Kyrgyzstan after the revolt.

In an apparent effort to annoy Russia, Lukashenko allowed Bakiyev to come to Belarus last week and vent his criticism of Moscow, which he says may have played a role in his overthrow.

Lukashenko, who calls Russia’s policy towards Kyrgyzstan "shortsighted", threatened last weekend to snub a May summit of the Moscow-dominated CSTO security pact of ex-Soviet states unless its agenda included Kyrgyzstan’s "bloody coup d’etat".

The outspoken leader, whose ties with former ally Russia have soured after a series of trade wars and rows over prices for Russian oil and gas, hinted that Moscow, like his critics in the West, may be keen to see him go.

"You see, someone — both in the East and the West — does not like the current president. Naturally, they are itching to sneak in here," Lukashenko told rural residents. "I don’t worry about this much, I’m just telling you: you should not relax." (Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

MINSK (Reuters) – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday berated ally Russia for not paying for its military bases deployed in his country and warned that he could snub the summit of a Moscow-dominated security pact next month.

Lukashenko, who has sought to improve ties with the West, bitterly hit out at Russia’s gas-for-base deal with Ukraine.

MINSK (Reuters) – Deposed Kyrgyz president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, said on Friday Russian anger at his decision to keep a U.S. air base in the ex-Soviet state was a factor in his overthrow on April 7.

Speaking from the Belarussian capital Minsk, where he fled following a revolt against his five-year rule, Bakiyev said he had no plans to return and lead Kyrgyzstan.

MINSK (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan’s ousted leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Wednesday he was still president and he asked world leaders not to recognize the interim rulers who took over after an April 7 uprising.

“I will do everything to restore constitutional order to Kyrgyzstan,” Bakiyev said in the Belarussian capital Minsk, where he has sought refuge after the revolt against his five-year rule.

MINSK, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi broke the isolation of ex-Soviet Belarus from the
West by making a one-day visit on Monday, hours after lawmakers
eased restrictive electoral laws.

The visit, the first by a Western leader in more than a
decade, ended with a private dinner with Belarussian President
Alexander Lukashenko who visited Italy earlier this year.

MINSK (Reuters) – Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday he was ready to liberalize electoral laws, sending a new signal that the ex-Soviet nation was seeking better relations with the West.

As ties with Belarus’s ally Russia sour, Lukashenko has sought to improve relations with the West which has urged Minsk to liberalize electoral laws, allow free registration of civic organizations and guarantee media freedom.