Lukashenko defiant on gas prices

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed confidence yesterday that Moscow will not significantly raise the price his country pays for Russian gas, a defiant statement that followed warnings that the rate could skyrocket.

“I don’t think the Russian leadership will take the step of a serious increase in gas prices,” Lukashenko said, dismissing statements from Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom about potential price hikes as meaningless ”chatter”.