Russia Cuts Off Electricity To Belarus Over Debt

Russia Cuts Off Electricity To Belarus Over Debt

en.rian.ru

Russia cut off electricity supplies to Belarus at midnight on Wednesday until Belarus fully repays its 1.2-billion ruble ($43 million) debt, Russia's electricity export monopoly Inter RAO said.

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Okay, is this for real? So, is Belarus out of power right now or do they have other Countries supplying them with that? I've NEVER heard of something like this before, one Country just SHUT DOWN the electricity to another...will there be military repercussions or what?

I'm a little confused, baffled by this report and it's on the main page of Breaking News.com

en.rian.ru
(visit the link for the full news article)

Aside from the Gas incident when the Russian company (gazprom?) shut off the Gas I've not heard of anything like this (cutting off electricity) before.. I hope that Russia is not the only supplier as I am sure that would impact hospitals and what not potentially putting lives at risk even if the hospitals have emergency generators.. worrisome..

So Belarus has next to no electricity right now?

Belarus meets about 10 percent of its electricity needs through Inter RAO supplies.

10% might effect a few things, but hardly a national level crisis in my opinion

I watched some sort of documentary about Russia having difficulty in getting its energy customers to pay for power since the dissolution of the USSR.

Since the people were used to having heavily subsidised or even free power through the communist system they are now recalcitrant in paying for what they did not have to pay for, before.

They also filch power from nearby power stations in frighteningly haphazard patch-wire jobs that would make an electrician have nightmares.

Nothing like a few generations of cradle to grave dependance to cause problems when the 'care' is no longer there.

reply to post by BarmyBilly


No, according to this article Belarus only receives about 10% of it's power from Russia.

en.rian.ru...

I watched a great documentary about the energy problems in Belarus a few months ago, can't find it now. If I can I'll post a link.

So, Belarus is saying that they actually "have" the money to pay it, but due to the economic crisis at hand- its hard to find a strong international currency to change it into. Guess they won't be turning it into American dollars.

Anyways, I don't have much to say so I'll just leave you a population count.

Belarus= 9,663,000 people as of 2009.

MM

i kid you not, those ruski's are crazy and its what i like about em.....,

New cold war in Europe as Russia turns off gas supplies
Wednesday, 7 January 2009

Gazprom stopped pumping gas to Ukraine for domestic consumption on 1 January after the two countries failed to agree on a fixed price for 2009. The pipelines that cross Ukraine also carry gas to Europe but that continued to flow, until Moscow accused Ukraine of siphoning off Europe's fuel and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin retaliated by ordering Gazprom to cut EU-bound exports by the amount being stolen.

www.independent.co.uk...

Russia turns gas supplies to Europe back on after signing 10-year deal with Ukraine
Last updated at 8:32 AM on 20th January 2009

Russia started resuming gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine this morning, nearly two weeks after a Moscow-Kiev contract row cut flows to European countries in mid-winter.

The order to start pumping gas again followed the signing of a 10-year gas contract between Moscow and Kiev and late night talks between Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Russia's Gazprom gas export monopoly.

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Wrong on so many levels.

Hospitals? Care Homes? Water? Sanitation?

What will be affected? If this happened in Winter, they could very quickly be liable for deaths.

What the hell are they thinking?

Not all will be affected (10% as per the article) but some definitely. Depends where the power was allocated.

Just the wealthy playing again:

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said on June 28 that the Belarus electricity supply cuts were not politically motivated and simply reflected the interaction between two companies on a corporate level.

reply to post by Mr Mask


I guess this would be like cutting off power to 10% of Long Island given those populations numbers. Just thought I would throw that in here for comparables.

I'm surprised by the lack of media coverage on this, it hasn't even been mentioned once on CNN and they're usually on top of important issues, is this not one of them, not even noteworthy?

Why must Russia supply free energy to Belarus? Belarus is an independent country, and is responsible for its own budget and balance sheets - and that includes paying the bills to foreign suppliers. If it cannot or does not want to pay - then that is too bad, no more imports. People on here are acting as if the Russian energy company is so evil for depriving people of Belarus of electricity. What happens to you if you stop paying your bills? Can you tell your electrical, or phone, or cable company "But I really need it", and they will supply you for free?

The fact is that Belarus can pay - they just don't want to. And I am not talking about the people of Belarus, but its energy company (run by the totalitarian government). You see - the Belarus energy company supplies electricity to people's homes and businesses, including elecricity that they import from Russia, and the people/business pay the bills. When it is the energy company's turn to pay the bill for the imports - it doesn't want to. It is pretty much the same case as what happened in Ukraine, just different players.


Russia is not responsible to feeding, subsidizing, or supplying energy to any outside nation. You want it or need it - you pay. Or if you can't pay you sell your soul to the IMF, or EU, or China, or the devil for all it matters, to get loans and get your own *** out of problems. If the Belarus government can't handle its internal finances in a responsible manner, then maybe it is time for a change. Leeching off of other countries can only work for so long.

Belarus government (read Lukashnko), is in deep s*** because of its own actions. They ran their economy as if it was still pre-Perestroika, and their sole reason for continued substinence was that Russia was its main trading partner as well as lender. Now reality caught up with them, albeit two decades too late. They did not heed warnings from both Russia and Europe for several years that their finances are in jeopardy. The only resolve for Belarus is to make rapid and radical changes to its economic and financial structure, which may be difficult to do without changing the political structure. Russia is cautious of coming anywhere near this mess, and both EU and US wouldn't touch this with a long stick. I seriously doubt China wants to flush its money down the drain either. So Lukashenko is desparate short of sugar daddies.

Minsk paid off its 600 million ruble ($21.16 million) debt to Russia's electricity export company Inter RAO on Wednesday and the company will resume electricity supplies to Belarus at midnight, a company spokesman said.

Well, that's the end of that story.

en.rian.ru...