EU not to interfere with Russia-Belarus gas dispute

• 23.06.2010, 8:55

This was said by president of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek.

“Similar crises have occurred with Ukraine and Belarus before. EU observers visited those countries, which was undoubtedly useful because they were able to assess the situation objectively," Jerzy Buzek said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“We do not interfere with the relations between two countries. The EU will not be directly involved in the resolution of this conflict,” he noted.

Buzek also expressed a hope the Moscow-Minsk dispute wouldn’t affect fuel supplies to European countries.

As the Belarusian party failed to pay the gas debt, Gazprom started reducing gas supplies to Belarus at 10 am on Monday. Deliveries were cut by 15% of the contracted volume on Monday, and were extended to 30% on Tuesday. According to the Russian company, the cuts are to reach 85%, the level proportional to Belarus’s debt. The Belarusian Council of Ministers said Tuesday the country would take Russian gas from the transit pipeline if supplies were not resumed. Alyaksandr Lukashenka said at a meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov he gave orders to halt transit of gas until Gazprom paid for the transit service.