Moscow - to Minsk: first the dialogue on integration, and then the negotiations on the gas price

Russia will start negotiations with Belarus on gas supplies after the issue of integration is resolved. This was reported to journalists by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Kozak on the sidelines of the exhibition INNOPROM, writes TASS. Earlier, the issue of a loan to Belarus was linked to the integration processes in Russia.

 

"We are still negotiating to deepen the integration processes. After we finish the dialogue on this topic, it will become clear when and how we will bring our gas markets closer together, make a single market or a common gas market," said Kozak, noting that "it's a complex multidimensional task.

 

The Russian deputy prime minister also expressed hope that a solution will be found in the near future.

 

The issue of gas price

In 2019, the protocol on gas prices, which Belarus and Russia signed in 2017, expires. According to this document, by the end of 2018, the parties had to work out a common formula in order to reach comparable gas prices for Belarus and consumers of Smolensk region of Russia in the future. And on July 1 this year, to sign the corresponding intergovernmental agreement.

 

Ambassador of Belarus to Russia Vladimir Semashko noted in an interview in early July that Minsk had offered Moscow four methods of calculating the gas price, but had not received a response to any of the proposals.

 

Loans are also linked to the integration

In April 2019, Moscow agreed on the allocation of a $600 million state loan to Minsk to refinance Belarus' current foreign debt on previously raised loans in Russia.

 

But as the head of the Ministry of Finance of Belarus, Maxim Yermolovich, said later, Russia linked the allocation of the state loan to the integration processes in Belarus.

 

"Finance Minister [of Russia Anton] Siluanov has repeatedly said that when we come up with a common mechanism of integration, we will address the issue of credit cooperation in a broader format, not only within the framework of this loan [for $630 million], but throughout the entire schedule of payments in favor of Russia," said Yermolovich.

 

Audit of the treaty on the Union State

We shall remind you that last December Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia was ready to continue to move forward on the way to building the Union State in the manner provided for by the agreement on the establishment of the Union State of December 8, 1999. According to him, the countries should have a single currency, a single court, a single customs office. The agreement also provided for further steps in integration - at least the way to a single parliament and a single president.

 

On 25 December, during the meeting of the presidents of Belarus and Russia, an agreement was reached to establish a Russian-Belarusian working group to discuss various aspects of integration and contentious issues. 

 

The Russian side of the group was headed by the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin. The group also included representatives of various agencies, the State Duma, the Federation Council and the Accounts Chamber. In Belarus, the group includes 30 officials, headed by Economy Minister Dmitri Krutoy.

 

Proposals for the development of integration within the Union State, developed by the working group, will be discussed by Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin on July 18.