Russia cuts off electricity to crisis-hit Belarus

Russia cut electricity supplies to Belarus on Wednesday over $43 mln in unpaid debts, upping pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko who is grappling with one of the worst economic crises of his 17-year rule.
Russia's troubled western neighbour, struggling with a balance of payments crisis that has forced it to devalue its currency, ran up arrears on electricity imports that make up around 10% of its power needs.
Russian power exporter InterRAO said it had halted supplies at midnight over 1.2 bln roubles ($42.48 mln) still owed for electricity supplied in March, April and May.
"From 0000, supplies to Belarus were cut to zero," said InterRAO spokesman Anton Nazarov, who added that the company was still waiting for payment of the debt.
"We are awaiting the next tranche after which we will be able to fully restore supplies," said Nazarov.
An unnamed official from Belarus' central bank was quoted by Russian news agency Interfax as saying Minsk will pay its outstanding debts on Wednesday. But bank spokesman Anatoly Drozdov told Reuters "the central bank had not sold foreign currency (to Belenergo) for debt repayment."
Belarus imports power which is in some cases cheaper than domestically produced electricity, but has enough capacity at its own plants to meet local demand.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, a close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, insisted on Tuesday that politics had nothing to do with the electricity dispute with Minsk.
But Moscow is pushing Lukashenko, in power since 1994, to sell off assets which are being eyed by some of Russia's most powerful business groups.
The currency crisis led to a 36% devaluation of the Belarussian rouble last month and economic hardship in the shape of price hikes and a shortage of imported goods has triggered protests in the tightly-controlled state.