Russia's state-controlled power trader Inter RAO UES may stop electricity supplies to Belarus over $54 million worth of debt racked up by the country since March, Russian business daily Kommersant said on Wednesday.
Inter RAO sources told the paper that the company may cut electricity supplies to Belarus by almost half starting from Thursday and stop supplies from June 19 if Belarus does not begin paying its 1.5 billion ruble debt.
Russian electricity accounts for some 10 percent of total consumption in Belarus, one of Inter RAO's main markets. In 2009 Belarus was the company's second largest electricity purchaser after Finland, with supplies accounting for 4.2 billion rubles (over $151 million,) the paper quoted experts as saying.
The Belarusian authorities have already been notified about possible cuts in electricity supplies by 200 Megawatts starting from Thursday.
The cuts will not affect Russian electricity supplies to Baltic States since Inter RAO no longer uses Belarus's transit system, the source told the paper.
Belarus is embroiled in a crippling currency crisis caused by a trade deficit and overspending ahead of last December's presidential elections.
The central bank's foreign exchange reserves fell 20 percent in the first two months of this year to $4 billion due to the trade deficit. In late May, the country's ruble was devaluated by 36 percent against the dollar.
Supply disputes have become a regular occurrence in rocky relations between Russia and Belarus. Last year Minsk shut down its transit system, used by Russia to supply electricity to the Baltic States, after the countries failed to agree on the price for Russian transits. Supplies were only restored in February this year.
Last summer, Russian energy giant Gazprom briefly cut gas supplies to Belarus by 60 percent over a gas debt. Belarus retaliated by cutting Russian gas transit to Lithuania for 24 hours before the dispute was settled.
MOSCOW, June 8 (RIA Novosti)
