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Energy minister to be held liable for failure to pay electricity debt to Russia, says vice premier

 

The first deputy prime minister, Uladzimir Syamashka, has blamed the energy minister for the country’s failure to pay a debt to Russia’s electricity supplier Inter RAO UES, threatening that Alyaksandr Azyarets would be held liable.

“It could have been paid a long time ago; there were all necessary grounds for that,” Mr. Syamashka said at a meeting at the National Assembly on Thursday. “But that was not done because of the clumsiness of the energy minister and his team. The minister will be held liable for failing to pay for the electricity on time.”

Mr. Syamashka dismissed as unfounded the argument of Belarus` national power utility DVA Belenerha that it had failed to buy Russian rubles at the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange for settling the debt.

The vice premier said that he had nothing to accuse the Russian company of. “It is not them who are to blame, but the board of the energy ministry,” he said. “It was not persistent and enterprising enough.”

Mr. Syamashka reiterated that Belarus could manage without Russian electricity imports. “But it [the suspension of the delivery contract] would be more painful for Inter RAO than for us,” he said. “Without disclosing all nuances, I would like to say that we will continue buying electricity.”

On June 29, Inter RAO UES cut off power deliveries to Belarus for its failure to pay a new installment of the $43-million debt.

Reports have had it that the Russian company resumed the export of electricity to Belarus at midnight on June 30 but halted it two hours later “for technical reasons.”

RIA Novosti said with a reference to a spokesperson for the Russian supplier on Wednesday night that Belarus had transferred the $21.3-million installment of its debt to RAO UES earlier in the day. //BelaPAN