Gazprom cuts gas supply to Belarus by 30%

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom on Tuesday reduced gas supplies to Belarus by 30 percent of the planned volume from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0600 GMT), said the company's CEO Alexei Miller in televised comments.

Miller said Gazprom continued to reduce supplies because Minsk failed to take any measures during the past 24 hours to settle its debt of 200 million U.S. dollars.

On Monday, Gazprom cut gas flow to Belarus by 15 percent by the order of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Later in the day, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko promised to pay its debt within two weeks.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov also told Russian media on Monday that the gas transits to Europe will remain unaffected. Belarus is a transit country for part of Russian gas exports to Europe.

Source: Xinhua