Executives representing Russia's electricity supplier Inter RAO UES are expected to travel to Minsk for a January 12 round of talks on the supply of electricity to Russia's Kaliningrad exclave through Belarus.
"We hope that there will be a constructive, balanced dialogue in Minsk tomorrow, which will make it possible to find an acceptable solution within a short period," Russia's news agency RIA Novosti quoted an unnamed representative of Inter RAO UES as saying on January 11.
When reached by BelaPAN on Monday, neither the Belarusian State Energy Concern (Belenerha) nor the Belarusian energy ministry confirmed the talks report.
On January 4, Belenerha threatened to halt the supply of Russian electricity to the Kaliningrad province and the Baltic states, citing the lack of an agreement between Belarus and Russia on this year's terms of electric power transit.
Inter RAO UES spokesman Boris Zverev described the threat as "blackmail" and said that the Belarusian government had "demanded in breach of previous agreements" almost a 2.5-fold increase in the transit rates this past month. "After New Year, they demanded a further increase in the transit price by almost 2.5 times," he was quoted as saying.
