NIo: Of course this is a commercial arrangement but as you mentioned there are of course strategic concerns for Russia and so there would be strategic concerns for the president, in terms of not only Belarus, but of course of supplies to Europe. So in light of the fact that there is still no agreement with Belarus…

DP: The agreement with Belarussia cannot affect the Russian natural gas passing through a Russian pipeline lying on Belarussian territory. So it's not, in other words, we're speaking not about a transit gas, a Russian gas, flowing in a Russian pipeline.

NIo: But again that does present a logistical issue for Russia? Does the president have a particular vision in mind in that regard?

DP: Logistically of course, we are in the long run working, and Russian gas company Gazprom is working, on developing alternative ways of transportation and alternative ways and alternative systems of pipelines.

Actually, this situation is very much different from what we had in Ukraine one year ago in January. It is different due to the fact that now we have a pipeline that cannot be closed. We have two different systems of pipelines and the first system is a system of gas that is for domestic consumption. The Yamal Europe pipeline is different line and so this ensures that the flow of gas will be free and without any disruptions.

In general, this is once again a story of energy security that was an issue of our presidency in G8, which ends in three days. And once again it shows the relevance and importance of that question and we want to believe that once again it shows that Russia has been, is and will be a reliable country guaranteeing energy security.