Minsk
Russia stopped supplying gas to Belarus this week, sending the price soaring just as Belarusians were hit by subfreezing temperatures. Belarus has always paid much less than the market price for Russian gas, but this year the Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom, demanded more money, saying it could no longer afford to subsidize its main foreign customer. So Belarus simply began siphoning off the extra gas it needed from a pipeline meant to supply Poland. Fed up with such thievery, Gazprom turned off the tap. “This is an act of terrorism,” said Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
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