"In plain terms, if some countries present here were not part of our Union, they would now be buying gas at European or close to them prices, starting at $200 per 1,000 cubic meters," Medvedev said.
Members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) should not shift their bilateral issues onto the bloc at the collective expense of the Union, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday.
"I believe that abusing the Union's right is unacceptable. Integration is supranational in nature and must remain above the national or bilateral agenda. Here we are considering issues that concern everyone. No country should allow itself bargaining and trade-offs at joint expense," Medvedev said at the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Kyrgyzstan. Speaking at the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Kyrgyzstan, the Russian prime minister said, "You do not need to prove anything and get exercised about calculations, everything would be much more expensive."
Medvedev's Belarusian counterpart Andrei Kobyakov said that Minsk's work in the EAEU was fundamentally affected by its disputes with Russia.
"The problems of bilateral relations fundamentally affect our participation in multilateral integration processes," Kobyakov said at the event.
On February 3, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the country had turned to the EAEU court over Russia's reduction in oil supplies due to the issues of the gas debt. On February 6, court's representative told Sputnik that the institution had not received Minsk's lawsuit.
The EAEU was founded in 2014 and comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. Its goal is to facilitate free movement of goods, services and labor. Participation in the organization also envisages elaborating single policy in certain sectors. Medvedev noted that EAEU members have grown their export volumes on the Russian market in recent years, received significant privileges in energy cooperation, while the labor market has become open.
