Russia Threatens Belarus With “Painful” Retaliatory Steps :: Charter'97 :: News

Russian Ministry of Economic Development does not exclude that Russia would have to turn to international agencies to recover damages from unsanctioned oil siphoning from pipeline Druzhba. “We do not rule out such a possibility,” Russian state secretary, deputy minister of Trade and Economic Development Andrei Sharonov said. He said that it’s early to speak about reprisal, but it can be “very painful” for the country, he added.

Germany and Poland said Monday that Russian oil supplies through Belarus had halted.

Semyon Vajnshtok, the head of the state pipeline operator Transneft, accused Belarus of siphoning off Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline that was destined for Europe.

As said by Sharonov, at the moment Russian companies inform Western partners that problems with oil transit through Belarus are circumstance of insuperable force, which do not allow them to fulfil their obligations to international partners.

Sharonov said that the matter concerns large volumes of oil which are intended for immediate manufacturing, in volumes which are noticeable for them.

He told that consultations are to take place in Economic Development Ministry, and the position of Russia for further talks with Belarus was expressed there.

“The position is that the precondition for starting negotiations would be unconditional abolishing of export duties by the Belarusian side, as illegal and contradicting international agreements,” the deputy minister said.

Belarus has imposed a customs duty of $45 per metric ton on Russian oil crossing Belarus effective Jan. 1, 2007.

As said by Sharonov, Transneft offers Belarus to compensate oil volumes not received by Western companies by oil “arrested” by Minsk. The deputy minister noted that those volumes are estimated as several hundreds thousands tons.

Sharonov believes that it is too early to speak about any retaliatory steps concerning Belarus. But the could be rather painful for the country, he noted.