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| Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko Nikolai Petrov/BelTA |
The Kremlin said on Friday that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko had not consulted Moscow before raising the possibility of cutting natural gas flows to Europe, and that Russia was a reliable exporter that fulfilled its obligations.
Lukashenko threatened on Thursday to retaliate against any new European Union sanctions over a migrant standoff on the Belarus-EU border, including by shutting down the transit of natural gas and goods via Belarus.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Lukashenkoโs threat had not been coordinated with Moscow.
Russia is a major exporter of natural gas to Europe via Belarus and the Kremlin made it clear it did not want to see any disruption in supplies.
โThis is a statement by the president of Belarus,โ Peskov said. โI want to remind you of President Putinโs statement that Russia has always fulfilled its contract obligationsโฆ Belarus is our ally, but it is a sovereign state.โ
Peskov described Russia as a guarantor of Europeโs energy security.
โRussiaโs reliability as a supplier and partner for current and future contracts cannot be called into question,โ he said.
REUTERS
