( CNN ) -- Belarus ' president has ordered the halt of Russian natural gas deliveries to Europe via Belarus , his office told CNN Tuesday . The move comes as Russia is decreasing the amount of natural gas it sends to Belarus over what it says are unpaid debts . Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Russia owes Belarus $ 260 million for the natural gas it transports through the country , state news reported . `` I have ordered the government to close down the transit of gas via Belarus until Gazprom pays for it . They have n't paid us a penny for this in the past six months . This is a cynical and absurd situation when you owe me $ 260 million while I owe you $ 190 million , and you are closing the valve on me , Lukashenko said , according to the Belarus state-run news agency Belta . Lukashenko 's announcement came after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered energy giant Gazprom to restrict gas supplies to Belarus because of what he says are unpaid debts . Alexander Medvedev , head of exports for the company , told reporters that Gazprom would protect its customers . `` We have prepared a plan of actions should Belarus violate its transit commitments and encroach on the gas intended for our European customers . We will do everything possible and impossible so that our European clients would not suffer , '' he said . Energy analysts estimate that Russia exports approximately 20 percent of its gas to Europe through Belarus . The other 80 percent transits through Ukraine . Gas from Russia through Belarus amounts to 6.25 percent of Europe 's total gas imports . Officials from the European Commission are in close contact with Russian and Belarusian authorities over the dispute and expect `` that the gas flows to the European Union will not be affected , '' spokeswoman Marlene Holzner told reporters Tuesday . On Tuesday Gazprom reduced the amount of gas it sends to Belarus by 30 percent , company CEO Alexei Miller said in televised remarks . The company had already decreased its supply by 15 percent Monday over a $ 200-million debt Belarus has accumulated this year , he said . Miller has said the cuts will continue daily and be `` proportional to the volume of debt . '' `` The letter actually ends with a threat that if the gas deliveries to Belarus are further reduced , they would take actions to take gas out of the transit pipeline system in order to meet the needs of Belarusian domestic consumers , '' Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said . `` The problem can hardly be resolved in a constructive way when such a tone and threats are being employed . '' Russia 's official news agency RIA-Novosti reported earlier Tuesday that Belarusian First Deputy Energy Minister Eduard Tovpinets said that Belarus plans to settle its total debt by July 5 and pay for Russian gas supplied in May by Wednesday . Belarus has refused to pay Russian gas rates of $ 169 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first quarter of the year and $ 185 for the second quarter , RIA-Novosti reported . The former Soviet republic has instead been paying $ 150 since Jan. 1 , ringing up a large debt in the process . In the past , other countries including Austria , Bulgaria , the Czech Republic , Germany , Romania , Greece and Turkey have complained that their gas supplies have been affected as Russia trimmed output to upstream customers like Belarus and Ukraine . Gazprom is the world 's biggest producer and exporter of natural gas -- and Russia 's most powerful company . It controls 20 percent of the world 's natural gas reserves and operates the world 's largest gas distribution network covering an area from Europe to the Far East , according to its website . Gazprom exports energy to 32 countries and provides around 25 percent of the European Union 's gas supplies . Formed in 1989 to replace the Soviet Ministry of the Gas Industry , Gazprom is closely tied to the Russian government , which owns a controlling 50 percent stake in the company . President Dmitry Medvedev is a former Gazprom chairman . In recent years , an increasingly confident Moscow has used Gazprom to assert its authority over Russia 's former sphere of influence by offering heavily subsidized gas to ex-Soviet countries . But that policy has led to disputes as Gazprom has then sought to raise prices . Gazprom has switched off gas supplies to another former republic -- Ukraine -- several times in recent years in a row over payments and Kiev 's rejection of proposals to hike rates . Those disputes ended earlier this year when Russia agreed to a 30 percent drop in the price of natural gas sold to Ukraine , in exchange for permission to extend Russia 's lease of a major naval base in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol , Ukraine , for 25 years . CNN 's Maxim Tkachenko and Matthew Chance contributed to this report .
Belarus ' president says Russian natural gas deliveries to Belarus to be stopped . Russia decreasing natural gas sent to Belarus over unpaid bills . Gas monopoly Gazprom reduced supply by 30 percent annually . Belarus has accumulated $ 200-million debt this year , says it will pay by $ 5 .