Russia cut electricity supplies to Belarus yesterday over US$43 million in unpaid debts, upping pressure on Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is grappling with one of the worst economic crises of his 17-year rule.
Russia’s troubled western neighbor, struggling with a balance of payments crisis that has forced it to devalue its currency, ran up arrears on electricity imports that make up about 10 percent of its power needs.
Russian power exporter InterRAO said it had halted supplies at midnight over 1.2 billion rubles (US$42.48 million) still owed for electricity supplied in March, April and last month.
“From 0000, supplies to Belarus were cut to zero,” said InterRAO spokesman Anton Nazarov, who added that the company was still waiting for payment of the debt.
“We are awaiting the next tranche after which we will be able to fully restore supplies,” Nazarov said.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, a close ally of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said on Tuesday that politics had nothing to do with the electricity dispute with Minsk.
However, Moscow is pushing Lukashenko to sell off assets, which are being eyed by some of Russia’s most powerful business groups.
The currency crisis led to a 36 percent devaluation of the Belarussian ruble last month.
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