Moscow explained that Belarus' problems will end after integration
Russia will give oil traders trading with Belarus the opportunity to use the pipeline, but will not subsidize them.
This was stated today by the Russian Ambassador to Minsk Dmitry Mezentsev, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Minsk’s request regarding the terms of oil supplies by “small” companies has been taken into account. Today, oil workers who are ready to supply “black gold” to Belarus can do so through the Transneft system without restrictions. For them, therefore, special conditions are defined. At the same time, it is important to understand that we do not have a single “treasury”, and any additional preferences at the expense of the Russian budget in favor of business entities, commercial structures operating on the territory of fraternal Belarus are hardly possible,” the official website of the Russian Embassy quotes Mezentsev .
The ambassador also noted that “disagreements on oil prices are a dispute between the seller and the buyer. This “strictly” does not apply to dialogue between states and governments.
He hinted that accelerating integration processes between Russia and Belarus would resolve all issues in the oil and gas sector.
“Integration work, the result of which will be access to the single oil and gas markets of the Union State - by definition - will remove disputes between the parties from the agenda. This is also true with regard to industrial policy, common approaches to supporting agricultural producers, and resolving a number of fundamental issues on the bilateral agenda,” Mezentsev said.
Disagreements between Moscow and Minsk over oil prices arose after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko refused at the end of last year to sign an integration document package that provided for the creation of a unified tax system and supranational governing bodies in the Union State.
At the same time, Lukashenko demanded that Russian oil companies supply energy to Belarusian refineries without premiums. As a result of fruitless negotiations, oil is supplied to Belarus only by Lukashenko’s friend Mikhail Gutseriev and small companies, some of which have Belarusian roots. Prices for these transactions were not disclosed. Factories are still at half capacity.
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