Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko...

Belarus benefited from significant discounts on Russian oil imports in 2009, and is again seeking preferential treatment this year. Russia says it is willing to eliminate all duties on oil supplied to Belarus for domestic consumption, but wants oil bound for European markets to be subject to duty. Russia has warned Belarus that it will have to pay full duty on all oil delivered while no agreement is in place.

"At the end of last year, Belarus and Russia began talks on oil deliveries, which have shown no results," the Belarusian presidential press service said.

In December, Moscow and Minsk reached an agreement that Belarus would receive oil deliveries duty free during the first two to three months of 2010, during which time the two countries would continue negotiations on the conditions of future oil deliveries for 2010.

"However, Russia has practically declined the drafted contracts and has put forward unacceptable conditions for Belarus. This is the reason the

Pages: [1] 2 3