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Belarus' difficulties in repaying a $460 million (£226 million) gas bill could be relieved from an unexpected source in the next few days.

The country's president,Alexander Lukashenko, said he may ask Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez for help in repaying the bill before the Friday morning deadline, threatened by Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas monopoly, takes effect.

Gazprom on Wednesday said it would halve the volume of gas Belarus receives if the debt was left unpaid.

The debt is derived from a deal signed in December 2006 obliging Belarus to pay $100 (£49) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, instead of $46 (£22.60).

Minsk was asked to pay $55 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first half of the year, and the required payment of the balance of $456 million to Gazprom by July 23rd.

Mr Lukashenko has since said Russia's loan with an 8.5 per cent interest rate to pay the debt was unfavourable.

"The government of Belarus has been negotiating with Russia about this credit... it's getting humiliating," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Mr Lukashenko as saying.

"I told them not to go there any more. We can get a loan like that from any country."

"Yes we will return the money, we will be left without reserves, but our good friends including Hugo Chavez have promised to provide a credit on favourable terms," he said.

As part of the deal, Belarus agreed to sell half of its national pipeline company, Beltransgaz, to Gazprom for $2.5 billion.

The European Commission called on Russia and Belarus to settle their differences and not disturb the gas supply to EU member states.