MOSCOW, Aug. 1 - Russia threatened on Wednesday to cut gas supplies to Belarus from Friday unless it pays nearly $500 million in debt, prompting urging from the European Union for a swift resolution.

Pricing disputes between Moscow and Minsk have previously hit energy supplies to Western Europe, which receives about 20 percent of its Russian gas via Belarus.

"The daily delivery of gas to Belarus under contract will be reduced by 45 percent to what has actually been paid for from 10:00 a.m. on Aug. 3," Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom said in a statement on Wednesday.

Belarus' debt for Russian gas currently amounts to $456.2 million, the company said.

Seeking to assure European customers, Gazprom said it had "taken steps to ensure that it will continue to meet its supply commitments to other customers in Europe."

The European Commission reacted swiftly, with spokesman Martin Selmayr saying it took the dispute "very seriously" and calling on both sides "to solve the issue amicably without delay."

A dispute over prices led to disruptions in oil supplies to several European countries earlier this year.

Belarussian Energy Ministry official Andrei Zhukov told AFP that Minsk was preparing proposals to Gazprom "to resolve the problems that have arisen in the shortest possible time."

Belarussian bank Belgazprombank said it was prepared to organize financing of up to $500 million to make the payment, news agency Interfax reported.

Minsk and Moscow have repeatedly clashed in recent years as Gazprom has sought control of Belarussian gas infrastructure and Belarus has tried to hold on to steep subsidies for Russian gas, on which its economy is heavily dependent.

Gazprom more than doubled gas prices to Belarus to 100 dollars (73 euros) per 1,000 cubic meters on January 1, and in May, won a deal to acquire 50 percent of Belarus' national pipeline operator for 2.5 billion dollars.

A dispute over gas prices between Russia and Ukraine, another key transit country, prompted cut-offs that hit supplies to Western Europe last year and sparked a wide debate about Europe's increasing reliance on Russian energy. (afp/ez)