WITH EU watching,Gazprom resumes gas supply to Belarus

摘要

Russian Gazprom's unprecedented cutoff of natural gas supplies to Belarus and neighboring countries served by Belarussian pipelines was called off at 14.47 hours Feb 19,less than 24 hours after it began,but not soon enough to prevent the European Union from demanding an explanation.Gazprom,owner and operator of all Russian gas pipelines,said it reopened supplies to Belarus after independent Russian trader Trans Nafta signed a 640-mil cu m sales contract with local gas distributor Beltransgaz.The deal should cover Belarus' gas needs for about 10 days,Gazprom said in a statement.