The latest round of a gas row between Russia and Belarus over unresolved debt issues further escalated Tuesday as the two sides traded strong words and actions.

The deputy CEO of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom Alexander Medvedev (2nd R) attends a press conference in Moscow, capital of Russia, June 22, 2010. Gazprom on Tuesday reduced gas supplies to Belarus by 30 percent of the planned volume from 10 a.m. Moscow time (0600 GMT), said the company's CEO Alexei Miller in televised comments. [Lu Jinbo/Xinhua]

Minsk to shut down gas transit

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Minsk Tuesday he had ordered the closure of the gas transit to Europe via Belarus, "until Gazprom pays the debt for the transit."

"Until they pay for the last six months, there will be no gas transit," Lukashenko said.

According to the Belarusian leader, Russian energy giant Gazprom owes his country 260 million U.S. dollars for transit fees to Europe, and Minsk owes the company 190 million dollars because of the difference between the gas price it has paid and the originally agreed price in the contract.

"It is absurd that we are not paying off this debt," he said. "Unfortunately, the gas row is becoming a gas war between Gazprom and Belarus."

One day earlier, when Lukashenko offered to pay back the due debt in machinery, equipment and other goods, his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the suggestion with scorn, saying Gazprom could not receive payment in "pies, butter, cheese or other means of payment," only in currency, RIA Novosti news agency said.

Apparently offended, Lukashenko on Tuesday said, "We take it as an insult when we are lowered to the level of chops, sausages, butter and pancakes."