Gazprom sets new prices for Europe

Russia's gas giant Gazprom has announced new prices for the Russian natural gas for Europe. An average export price for European consumers may climb past $400 per 1000 cubic meters towards the end of the year, Gazprom's deputy chairman of the board Alexander Medvedev said in a statement.  Nasha Niva newspaper reminds that Gazprom initially forecasted that the gas would cost $310 in 2008. Experts do not rule out that the price of the Russian gas for Belarus could also soar. But it is Ukraine that is threatened in the first place.

Economic commentator Tatsiana Manionak suggests that Belarus could still be able to buy the Russian gas at a lower pirce of $160 per 1000 cubic meters on condition that it offers some local assets in return. Belarus is unliekly to team up with Ukraine over gas transit fees against higher gas costs, the expert added in an interview with Nasha Niva.