Russian and Belarus will sign a deal on gas prices before a midnight Sunday deadline, averting potential supply disruptions to Europe, a spokesman for Belarus's prime minister told Reuters. Russian negotiators could not be reached to confirm an agreement was imminent. Earlier this weekend Belarus announced a deal had been reached, only for Moscow to issue a denial. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has said it will cut supplies to Belarus from Jan. 1 if a deal on new gas prices to its neighbour was not reached by midnight. Minsk said it would retaliate by halting Russian gas crossing the country on its way to Western Europe. "We've agreed on all the basic details. There are some minor technical issues remaining and we expect the deal to be signed before midnight," Alexander Timoshenko, a spokesman for Belarus Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky, told Reuters in Minsk. The gas row revived memories of a similar dispute with ex-Soviet Ukraine exactly one year ago which briefly disrupted Russian deliveries to Europe and shook confidence in Russia's reliability as an energy supplier. Gazprom -- which ships about 20 percent of the gas it exports to Europe via Belarus -- assured customers there would be no disruption. But it was not clear how Gazprom could stop Minsk carrying out its threat to cut power supplies to pipeline pump stations, so halting the flow of gas onward to Europe. Russia supplies about a quarter of Europe's gas needs.
