Belarus Increases Cost of Russian Oil Transit :: Charter'97 :: News

Since February 15 Belarus unilaterally increased costs for Russian oil transit by more than 30%, RIA Novosti informs. “Economy Ministry of Belarus ahs adopted a statement under which transit of Russian oil to Poland and Germany would hike by 35%. In Ukrainian direction transit is to hike by 31.6%. According to reports of the Belarusian side, as a result the average oil transportation tariffs would match Russia’s domestic oil transportation tariffs.

According to estimation of the Belarusian side, tariffs hike is to bring additional $50 million a year. Thus, Belarusian officials and state companies continue to carry out Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s order to reimburse for 5 billion dollars of losses by his country after price hike for Russian energy resources.

“If Russian president mentions transition to market relations, in return we shall ask Russia to pay hard currency for services previously received by Moscow for free,” Lukashenka told to Reuters agency earlier. “We mean transit, military cooperation and Russian exclave Kaliningrad,” Lukashenka said.

Russia is not preparing retaliatory sanctions still. Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref stated that Russia has no plans for any retaliatory measures. However he remarked, though, that such rise can be taken only on the basis of a bilateral agreement. “We are studying the rates. If their rise does not go beyond the bounds of routine indexing, I’ll say it’s normal,” Gref said.

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