Russia resumed gas supplies to Belarus on Thursday and paid gas transit debts to Minsk in a move to ease fears of supply cuts to the European Union, which has called the dispute an attack on the entire bloc, according to Reuters. Belarus said it had yet to receive the payments for transit but was ready to resume full flows of natural gas to Europe within 8-10 hours. "We regret that a conflict erupted," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, after meeting Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom's head Alexei Miller, in the first conciliatory comment after days of tensions. "We hope it won't be repeated... We need to hold talks with our partners and solve all disputed issues in a normal, working, amicable atmosphere," he added. Russia, the world's largest energy exporter, supplies Europe with 25 percent of gas needs, with four-fifths of that flowing via Ukraine and one-fifth via Belarus. Russia also supplies around 1 million barrels per day of oil to German and Polish refineries via Belarus. On Wednesday, Belarus had threatened to cut off Russian oil and gas flows to Europe if Gazprom did not pay $260 million owed for gas transit through pipelines across its territory. On Thursday, Gazprom said it had paid $228 million but Minsk said it was still waiting for the payment to arrive. Russia triggered the dispute last week when it said Belarus owed it around $200 million for gas deliveries. Minsk paid the bill on Wednesday. The close ties between Russia and Belarus have been increasingly strained as Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has sought to use Russia's eagerness to maintain an ally on its Western flank to pressure Moscow not to scrap longstanding economic subsidies. Belarus is to hold presidential elections next year and Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994 in what analysts describe as a Soviet authoritarian style, has pledged to raise state wages and salaries. Belarus pays the lowest price among Russian gas customers and has bridled at recent increases, saying it should pay less for oil and gas if Moscow is serious about close ties. Lukashenko has courted the West and sought other energy sources. Relations have soured further since Russia and Belarus failed to agree on unified customs rules and Lukashenko gave refuge to ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, despite Moscow's support for the new Kyrgyz leadership.
