The president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko stated in interview to Euronews TV channel that the gas conflict with Russia arose for no reason. "There was no reason for the conflict at all. This dispute is absolutely groundless on Russia's side", the Belarusian leader said.
«But the main thing is that dispute arose when Gazprom owed us 260 million dollars for transit, and transit is linked to the deliveries to Belarus. And we owed them 190 million, even 187 million. They recognized it, and we paid these 187 million», the head of the Belarusian state said, BelTA informs.
Alexander Lukashenko reminded also that initially Belarus asked to grant it two weeks for debt repayment for the gas delivered in from January till April. «But our allies, the closest people to us, said:» No, we will not wait even a day».
In the interview the president of Belarus also paid attention to tendentiousness of the Russian mass-media when they covered the gas conflict. They didn’t mention a Russian debt of for gas transit through Belarus. He also said about probability and conditions of his participation in forthcoming presidential election.
