Belarus will purchase oil from other countries if Russia does not compensate it for losses associated with the tax maneuver.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko announced this today in Brest, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“They are tired of arguing with transit people. He proudly invested billions of dollars, built these streams. I told him: we will just as proudly (if you tilt us and bring us down to the market price of oil, replace the customs duty with a tax maneuver) and take other oil from the market. But does Russia really need this for 20-25 million tons to come to their market? foreign oil – American, Saudi Arabia, someone else’s... Azerbaijani oil – we have worked out this route through Ukraine to Mozyr,” Lukashenko said.
According to him, Belarus is also considering a northern route for oil imports, for which both branches of the Druzhba oil pipeline, the main export artery for Russian oil, will be used.
“We are working on the northern route. I told the Russian authorities directly. And through Poland, through the Baltic states. There are developments. But if we start supplying oil through Poland, we will take two lines of the Druzhba oil pipeline, through which Russian oil is exported. Do Russians need this? No. Well, let's negotiate humanly and do what's best. These are my demands,” Lukashenko said.
Earlier, Belarus announced that it was hiring a lobbyist to explore the possibility of buying oil from the United States. Belarusian experts regarded this as blackmail of Russia on the issue of oil prices, which has no economic basis.
Earlier, Russian Minister of Economy Maxim Oreshkin stated that Russia would invest about $4 billion in the Belarusian economy.
“50% of Belarusian trade is trade with Russia. At the same time, it is important to understand that a significant part of Belarus’ trade with Europe is also a consequence of trade with Russia. Belarusian oil refineries buy oil from us and sell oil products to Europe,” Oreshkin said.MMi