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Russia's Gazprom Warns It Will Cut Off Gas To Georgia If It Doesn't

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  • Russia's Gazprom Warns It Will Cut Off Gas To Georgia If It Doesn't

    RUSSIA'S GAZPROM WARNS IT WILL CUT OFF GAS TO GEORGIA IF IT DOESN'T AGREE TO HIGHER PRICE
    By Henry Meyer, Associated Press Writer

    The Associated Press
    November 7, 2006 Tuesday 5:28 PM GMT

    Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom warned Georgia on Tuesday that it
    would cut off gas supplies by Jan. 1 unless Russia's small southern
    neighbor agreed to pay more than double the current price.

    The head of OAO Gazprom's export arm, Alexander Medvedev, told
    reporters that unless Tbilisi signed a new contract for 2007 on terms
    demanded by the Russian company, Gazprom would turn off the taps and
    make only transit deliveries to Armenia through the pipeline that
    crosses Georgia.

    "If there is no contract, we will be obliged to supply only consumers
    in Armenia. I wouldn't call this a cutoff. The lack of a supply
    contract means no supplies," said Medvedev. He added that Georgia could
    negotiate a lower price only if it offered some assets in exchange.

    Gazprom last week said it plans to charge Tbilisi $230 per 1,000 cubic
    meters of gas, compared with the $110 that it pays now, ratcheting
    up economic pressure against the U.S.-allied Caucasus Mountain state.

    Georgian leaders said that the sharp price rise was obviously political
    because other ex-Soviet nations were paying far less, and they vowed
    not to pay a "non-market" price.

    The threat raises the prospect of a repeat of the bitter New Year's
    price fight with Ukraine, during which Gazprom temporarily cut off
    the former Soviet republic's supplies this year.

    The gas dispute, which was seen as retaliation for Ukraine's
    pro-Western policies, briefly disrupted supplies to Western Europe,
    provoking alarm about reliance on Russian gas. A cutoff of gas to
    Georgia would not affect Gazprom exports to Europe, which pass through
    Ukraine and Belarus.

    Since Kremlin-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych came to office
    this year in Ukraine, Kiev has managed to limit the price for 2007
    to $130.

    Gazprom, which has been criticized as a tool of Kremlin policy, denied
    that politics had played a role in the demands of Georgia. The Russian
    gas behemoth says it has decided to end subsidized gas tariffs for
    other former Soviet nations and is moving toward market prices.

    Russian ally Armenia is paying a price for Russian gas of $110 that
    will stay fixed until the end of 2008.

    But Medvedev said this was negotiated last year and the agreement
    included clauses handing control of key energy facilities to Gazprom,
    including the Armenian segment of a planned pipeline bringing Iranian
    gas to the country, which is due to open later this year.

    Neighboring Belarus, whose authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko
    has signed a loose union treaty with Russia, faces a fourfold rise
    in gas prices to $200, although Gazprom is believed to be willing to
    compromise if the country hands over 50 percent of the state pipeline
    through which Russian gas transits to Western Europe.

    Relations between Tbilisi and its former imperial master Moscow have
    been frosty because of Georgia's decision to align itself with the
    West and seek membership in NATO and the European Union.

    Ties suddenly worsened after Georgia detained four alleged Russian
    spies in late September and Russian authorities retaliated with a
    sweeping transport and postal blockade and a crackdown on Georgian
    businesses and migrants in Russia. The remittances they send home
    total hundreds of millions of dollars a year and are important for
    the struggling Georgian economy.
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