Russia threatens to cut gas supplies to Belarus in five days

Russian President Dzmitry Medvedev today ordered Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller to give Belarus five days in order to clear its gas debt.  "In accordance with the contract, we have all the grounds to reduce gas supplies to Belarus proportionally to the debt of the country to Gazprom", Miller said at a meeting with Medvedev.

"Let us do it this way. Since we interact with Belarus as partners, we will give our (Belarusian) collegues five days so that they get settled how to behave further", the Russian president was quoted as saying by the Russian official news agency Itar-Tass.

If Belarus fails to clear the debt for the supplied gas, Russia will have to resort to harsh measures, said Medvedev.