On February 18 Gazprom discontinued transit of Russian gas through the territory of Belarus in connection with the unsanctioned siphoning off of gas by the Belarussian side. In this connection president Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus said that "our relations will always be gassed" and recalled the Ambassador of Belarus to the Russian Federation to Minsk for consultations.
On February 24 Lukashenko received Vladimir Grigoryev with a report. The Belarussian president's press service reported that practically the whole complex of cooperation between Belarus and Russia and the state of affairs in the Union State, including the questions of gas supplies, were discussed in the course of their conversation.
The president gave a number of assignments to the Ambassador, which the Russian leadership will be informed of. "The president called for not in the least politicizing the situation. This is a dispute of two economic entities which must resolve the existing problem on their own," the Belarussian president's press service noted.
"The negotiating process on the question of gas supplies to Belarus is going on. The Belarussian side's stand is that a mutually acceptable decision which would meet the interests of the Belarussians and Russians should be found through consultations," the press service officials said.
The head of the Belarussian state noted that "the Russian people was, is, and will be the dearest brother to us." "For this reason, in Alexander Lukashenko's opinion, there cannot be any deviations from the Union Treaty. We will befittingly withstand this new test," the press service officials noted.
