Belarus defiant over Russian gas threat

Russia and Belarus are digging in today in a deepening dispute over natural gas prices, as Russia's state-run gas monopoly Gazprom started the countdown towards a January 1 supply cut unless the neighbouring nation agreed to pay more.

Belarus, in turn, warned that a suspension of supplies could jeopardise deliveries of Russian gas across its territory to Gazprom clients in the European Union – a threat targeting Russian’s concerns of a repeat blow to its image a year ago when a cut-off of deliveries to Ukraine led to brief supply disruptions in Europe.