Russian gas delivery to Yougoslavia will be redused

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has reduced gas deliveries to Yugoslavia to three million cubic metres per day from 4.2 million as it has no payment guarantees, a Gazprom spokesman said on Thursday. Russia stopped gas supplies to Yugoslavia last June over an unpaid debt of $325 million. But supplies were restarted from November after Yugoslavia agreed to provide state guarantees for repaying the debt, Reuters reports. However the problem of payment for new supplies remains. ''Since November 10, an intergovernmental commission has been examining this issue,'' the spokesman said. ''But nobody is paying for our gas''. He said Gazprom expected the intergovernmental commission to agree to Russia granting Yugoslavia an additional loan of $30 million which could be used to pay for gas supplies. It could be formulated into an annex to a 1997 agreement between the two states under which Russia granted Yugoslavia a loan of $150 million to buy equipment, the spokesman said.