MINSK, Dec 27: Belarus and Russian state monopoly Gazprom warned on Wednesday that their worsening dispute over gas prices could hit western European energy supplies from next week, in an apparent re-run of last year’s gas crisis with Ukraine.

Gazprom has demanded that Belarus agree to pay more than double the current price for natural gas imports and also sell shares in Belarus’ national gas infrastructure -- or face having Russian gas taps turned off on Monday, New Year’s Day.

“Gazprom is not Santa Claus, after all,” spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said.

Belarus, a country of 10.3 million people sandwiched between Russia and the European Union, reiterated its refusal to accept Gazprom’s demand.

Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets warned that cutting off Belarus would also mean shortfalls for Europe, which relies for part of its Russian gas imports on the transit route across Belarus.

“If a contract is not signed on gas supplies (for Belarus), then there will be no contract on transit,” he told journalists.

“One shouldn't forget this question about how gas will transit without a contract. That is against Belarussian law.”

More than 20 per cent of Russian gas exports go through Belarus to western Europe, while the European Union is increasingly reliant on Russian energy supplies.

Russia supplied 24 per cent of the EU’s total gas needs in 2005, according to data from European gas federation Eurogas, representing 40 per cent of all gas imports to the bloc.

Gazprom believes Belarus will siphon off gas destined for Europe in the event of a cut to its domestic supplies, leading to shortages downstream in Europe.

Gazprom's export chief Alexander Medvedev said the Russian company would try to compensate for lost volumes, but that shortfalls in Europe might be unavoidable.

“Full compensation ... is virtually impossible, especially over a long period,” he was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Gazprom’s powerful chairman, Alexei Miller, said that Russian supplies for Belarus would be cut off at 0700 GMT on Monday if no deal was struck earlier.

The European Union has been wary of Moscow’s energy policies since last year when Gazprom briefly cut supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day, with knock-on effects for European consumers further down the line during a bitter winter in Europe.

The pressure on Belarus fits a pattern of heavy-handed negotiating by Moscow as it seeks to ensure more lucrative gas supply contracts with neighbouring, former Soviet countries.—AFP