BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

10/01/2007

Belarus cancels transit tax on Russian oil shipments

The Associated Press

MINSK, Belarus: Belarus' government on Wednesday voted to cancel a tax on Russian oil shipments transiting its territory, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky announced, removing a major sticking point in a dispute with Moscow that saw oil supplies to Europe disrupted.

"The government, taking into consideration bilateral agreements with the Russian government, has taken the decision ... to cancel the state duty for the transit of oil along the state pipeline network," Sidorsky said after a meeting of government ministers.

In Moscow, there was no immediate response to the announcement. Earlier, the Kremlin said that the two countries' presidents - Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko - had held telephone talks on the dispute, but gave no further details.

Belarus last week slapped a US$45 per ton tax on Russian oil shipments in response to a Russian decision last month to impose a customs duty on oil exports to Belarus.

On Monday, Russia stopped pumping oil to Europe via the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline that crosses Belarus, accusing its neighbor of siphoning off oil. By Tuesday, the stoppage had affected supplies to Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The oil disruptions have caused more damage to Russia's reputation as a key energy supplier to the European Union, one year after a price dispute with Ukraine led to a brief interruption of EU gas imports from Russia.

EU leaders have strongly criticized the shutdown of the oil pipeline.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/10/europe/EU-GEN-Belarus-Russia-Oil.php

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