Posted on 05/13/2006 7:23:10 AM PDT by A. Pole
RUSSIA: Russia is imposing a quadruple hike in gas prices to neighbour Belarus, triggering fears of a crisis similar to the stand-off earlier this year with Ukraine.
State-owned gas giant Gazprom has told Belarus that it must pay world prices for its gas from December if it wants to continue getting supplies.
Ukraine's failure to pay a similar gas price hike on January 1st saw Russia turn off the taps, triggering a crisis that spread across much of Europe.
Critics say the demand, on one of Europe's poorest countries, is being used as leverage for Gazprom to get control of Belarus's state-owned gas pipelines.
The move is likely to sharpen anxieties in EU countries already concerned that the Kremlin may be using gas supply as an economic weapon.
The price increase for Belarus is unusual because, unlike Ukraine, its president Alexander Lukashenko is a staunch ally of Russia.
Mr Lukashenko won re-election last month in a vote condemned as fraudulent by the EU and the US, but welcomed as fair by Moscow.
Gazprom insists the demand is based on commercial reality: Belarus pays $47 for a cubic metre of gas now, compared to the European price of $230, under a subsidy contract that runs to the end of the year.
The company says that, as with Ukraine, it wants to end the practice of offering subsidies to former Soviet states to bring it into line with modern market practices.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said the demand was being made now to give Belarus time to adjust. "So that that issue of gas prices for Belarus should not become the topic of New Year's Eve television programmes, we want to agree in advance how to work next year," he told Russian television.
Belarus has made no official comment on the demand, with Mr Lukashenko a virtual recluse since his March 19th election victory. Diplomats in Moscow say that if the Belarus leader sells his distribution network to Gazprom, he is likely to be offered a fresh subsidy agreement, in part because his impoverished country cannot pay the increase.
[...]
Never trust people who are even ready to scream in defense of somebody like Vladimir Putin.
Khodorkovsky was a crook no doubt about this like many others in todays Russia. But he has political ambitions and this is the only reason why he is sitting now somewhere in Siberian labor camp. Taxs accusation is nothing but a joke, because all Russian companies pay lower taxes.
Yukos, just like other oil companies, used legal tax mechanism to reduce the taxes. Out of 24 per cent of the binding income tax, Yukos paid around 12-15 per cent. It should be added that e.g. Sibneft concern (Controlled by Kremlins loyal businessman Roman Abramovich) pays around 5 per cent of the income tax, and the aluminum concern RusAl around 3 per cent (out of 24). Both companies are loyal to the Kremlin; the Tax Office and the prosecution authorities have not applied any sanctions against them.
Source: Center for Eastern Studies, Warsaw, Poland
Putin after re-election
The pipeline in the unique bottom of the Baltic Sea in not natural for sure. Beside of that there is a lot and even more WWII stuff in the Baltic Sea, once touched may in fact cause ecologic catastrophe. The pretext is for sure, other case that the Germans dont search for any pretext.
Exactly nothing but hypocrisy.
Well well well, at last you admit that you were lying all the time when you always claimed that Belarus is not subsidized because they gave to Gazprom their pipeline. Better late than never...
No pipeline is natural. And if pipeline is damaged the natural gas will not pollute water - it will bubble up.
there is a lot and even more WWII stuff in the Baltic Sea, once touched may in fact cause ecologic catastrophe
Much of this stuff was released during the war or in later years as a result of corrosion - no ecologic catastrophe took place.
Hmm, are you against Polish-Norwegian pipeline then?
Yeah, right
http://www.wnp.pl/wiadomosci/5285.html
Hmm, are you against Polish-Norwegian pipeline then?
and why should I be against?
You are concerned about potential "ecologic catastrophe". Do you think that Norwegian gas is more environment friendly?
If you read the link that I provided in my last post, you should know that the British sank all this s
t in the zone between Lithuania and Sweden. This is on the route of the Baltic pipeline not Polish-Norwegian project. Beside if the Russians would built it themselves then sorry no, they destroy everything they touch. So this is even more than pretext.
This will be done together with the Germans, don't you remember? :)
"There's a reson Ukraine has never historically been it's own nation; it is utterly incapable of defending itself. "
no, I think it has something to do with the Russians having killed more Ukrainians in 1932 than all the soldiers killed in WWI - on both sides!
Not to mention stealing millions of tons of grain and liquidating all personal pocessions. That alone probably has a present value of over One Trillion $
Start Paying!
"Pretty far actually - almost as far as trying to find a Ukrainian that will admit to their complicity in Soviet crimes."
Sorry to interrupt your fantasy - here is what history has recorded:
"Stalin was determined to crush all vestiges of Ukrainian nationalism. Thus, the famine was accompanied by a devastating purge of the Ukrainian intelligentsia and the Ukrainian Communist party itself."
"Interesting that you would post an example of how Ukrainian insurgents were doing the Nazis bidding and able to operate with Nazi assistance."
Actually, the Ukrainian underground tried to warn Patton that the Russians were plotting to kill him. The Ukrainian Nationalists , besides Patton, had it right to fight the Germans AND the Russians.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1622901/posts
You keep gong off topic .
What about the treaty that obligated Russia to allow the transport of the $50 gas that Ukraine bought from Turkmanistan.
Another one that likes to go off topic.
What about the treaty that obligated Russia to allow the transport of the $50 gas that Ukraine bought from Turkmanistan.
Your tovarich lost his tongue - maybe you can answer.
""However, that does not cover production cost, and does not include transit. To expect gas for $50 today would be INSANE." "
"The only thing insane is your analysis - If the Russians are buying Turkman gas for $50, and paying Ukraine $2 for transport to Europe where the "market price" is $250, why do you justify Putins shutting off the valve when Ukraine did the same thing with turkmanistan?"
" Socialists, like yourself, see gas as a right, and without the need to pay."
Tell us Gary how the Russians came to control the natural gas industry when it was started in Ukraine back in the 20's?
"Actually, the Ukrainian underground tried to warn Patton that the Russians were plotting to kill him. The Ukrainian Nationalists , besides Patton, had it right to fight the Germans AND the Russians."
RUBBISH and we've already established that it was rubbish.
But, of course, this is typical "change the subject spanalot" who, after being caught out cheering for those who fought FOR the Nazis wants to make it seem like the Ukrainian nationalists were our friends. HA.
1.) The so-called plot wasn't until the end of the war. The plot makes absolutely zero sense. The so-called "hero" who warned of the plot alleges to have been on Patton's security staff but for some strange reason wasn't able to prevent the so-called assassination. So pick one - the Ukrainian nationalist who knew about the so-called plot is either totally inept or was working with the Ukrainian nationalists to kill Patton so they could blame the Soviets, provoke a war with the United States - which would have resulted in the defeat of the Soviet Union and the liberation of Ukraine. Hmmm... Seems to me like your Nazi-allied Ukrainian nationalist heros had more to gain from Patton's death than the Soviets. They already killed thousands of Jews so what was a 4-star American general to them?
2.) When Vatutin was killed he was the commander of a significantly sized force pushing the Nazis back toward Berlin and and also relieving pressure on the Western Front by forcing the Nazis to fight two fronts. AS SUCH, he was working in concert with the British and American forces.
3.) The Nazi-supported UPA killed Vatutin. Vatutin was part of the Allied war powers' concentrated efforts to drive to Berlin from all sides. The Ukrainian nationalists' murder of this general was a blow to the Allied war effort, which means it was an action designed to HELP THE NAZIS.
4.) No amount of rewriting Ukrainian history to paint the UPA UON and others as "heros" will EVER erase the FACT that they were involved in the murder of thousands of JEWISH people in Lvov, assisted the NAZIS in the murders of Ukrainians AND Jews in Babi Yar, AND the clear and proven fact that they collaborated with the Nazi forces - i.e, the ENEMIES of the United States.
So, spanalot, keep on endorsing the collaborators...
"Tell us Gary how the Russians came to control the natural gas industry when it was started in Ukraine back in the 20's?"
That's right Gary, and tell us how the Ukrainians invented fire, electricity, the radio, television, and the Rubric's Cube.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.