Alexander Timoshenko said Belarus top gas negotiator arrived in the Russian capital by a regular flight and immediately headed to Gazprom's headquarters to start negotiations aimed to resolve the current gas dispute that may disrupt future supplies of Russian natural gas to Europe if no agreement is reached by January 1, 2007.
Gazprom has confirmed the arrival of the Belarusian official to Moscow.
The company earlier said it had not reached an agreement with Belarus despite intensive negotiations by telephone overnight.
"We held telephone talks and exchanged faxes with our Belarusian colleagues until 1 a.m. Moscow time [10 p.m. GMT on Saturday] but failed to reach an agreement," Sergei Kupriyanov, a spokesman for the Russian energy giant, said in an interview with Russia's NTV television.
Gazprom earlier warned Belarus it will cut off supplies to the country at 10 a.m. Moscow time [7 a.m. GMT] on January 1 if a new agreement is not signed by that time.
