BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

09/01/2007

Russia sets preconditions for negotiations with Belarus - Gref

MOSCOW, January 9 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia will start negotiations with Belarus only upon the invalidation of the transit duty on Russian crude and the resumption of transit to Europe, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said following working contacts that prepared the negotiations.

"We request Belarus to return to international laws," he said.

The transit duty is legally unfounded, Gref said. "Two steps must be taken before the negotiations begin - the duty must be repealed and the transit must continue," he said. "These preconditions are final. We will not start the negotiations until they are met," he said.

If Belarus does not do that, Russia "will seek alternatives when the amount of possible deliveries is assessed," Gref said. "In that case, we will consider a possible decrease of the output of Russian oil companies."

"This may be a very negative plan for Russia and Belarus," the minister said.

Russia may take measures if Belarus refuses to meet the demand, he said. "We are working hard to prevent negative developments," he added.

"We are a dynamically developing country, which has the reputation of a steady supplier, and we will do our best to ensure the deliveries to the European market," Gref said.

As for his Tuesday meeting, Gref said, "we parted in a positive mood." "Now everything is up to the partners," he said.

Russia enacted export oil duties for Belarus in early December in keeping with international rules, Gref said. "We did not receive payments of export duties on petroleum products for four years. Finally, Russia decided to enact a regular, non-discriminative duty," he said.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11142407&PageNum=0