- Russia warns Belarus, which supports it, against stopping gas pipelines there in a dispute with the European Union.
- In an interview with state television, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that such a move would put a strain on relations between the two countries.
The European Union plans to impose new sanctions on Belarus. The country is accused of perpetrating a “hybrid attack” of smuggling refugees from crisis regions in the Middle East and Africa to the external borders of the European Union. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko recently suspended discussion of gas supplies to Europeans.
The Yamal pipeline, through which Russian gas flows through Belarus to Poland and Germany, will be affected. The Belarusian part of the pipeline belongs to the Russian monopoly Gazprom.
Breach of the gas transportation contract
Putin has now said that Lukashenko has not spoken to him about this issue. He added that Lukashenko can, of course, stop gas supplies to Europe. “But this means a violation of the gas transport treaty, and I hope this will not happen,” Putin said.
Lukashenko added that such a move would harm the European energy sector on a large scale. Moreover, this will not be beneficial for Russia’s relations with Belarus as a transit country.
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