Lukashenko: “We will not crawl on our knees in front of our older brother”
Belarusian customs must take action in connection with Russia's tax maneuver in the oil sector, which has already led to a decrease in revenue from export customs duties on petroleum products.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko announced this today at a meeting with Chairman of the State Customs Committee of the country Yuri Senko, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We won’t constantly crawl on our knees in front of our older brother and beg for some crumbs. We ourselves must build a policy here with all the ensuing consequences. The President of Russia and I have discussed this more than once. I think that in the near future, when approving a program of joint actions, we will have to return to this issue,” Lukashenko’s press service quotes him as saying.
He noted that Belarusian customs officers have already managed to find directions that made it possible to compensate for losses: at the end of the year, revenues will exceed last year’s figure.
“Under no circumstances should we bend or fall. We must withstand the reduction of these duties and our incomes and withstand this tax maneuver,” Lukashenko said.
As PolitNavigator reported, Minsk is seeking from Moscow the so-called compensation for the loss of preferential terms for the supply of oil, which the Belarusians processed at their refineries and resold at a profit, including to the Ukrainian army in the form of fuel.
Minsk estimates its total losses over six years at up to $11 billion, and in 2019 at $400 million (at an oil price of $70 per barrel).
At the same time, Lukashenko publicly stated that “he will not sell sovereignty for a barrel of oil.”
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