BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

19/01/2007

Belarus will not introduce border control with Russia

MINSK, January 19 (Itar-Tass) -- Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday his country will not introduce control on the border with Russia, although his chief border guard reported "there were elements" from the Russian side of restoring the border control.

Chief border guard Alexander Pavlovsky reported to the president there were 16 customs checkpoints on the border with Russia, which "operate in the regime of controlling goods from third countries, including our goods".

"There are elements of restoring" the Russian-Belarussian border, he said, adding there were 150 Russian border guards there. Besides, 12 Russian officers were in Minsk to control the border with the European Union together with Belarussian colleagues, as Russia and Belarus have no border controls.

After a conflict with Belarus caused by the introduction of export duties on Belarussian oil products produced from Russian crude, Russia said it has a possibility to control the exports on the Belarussian border with the European Union.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11168293&PageNum=0