Russia will impose customs tariffs on oil supplied to Belarus, Russia's government said early Friday as Minsk denounced "unprecedented pressure" on its delegation due to hold talks in Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported. "Talks were held from December 10 to 31 practically daily, but unfortunately we did not reach an agreement," the government press service was quoted as saying.
Belarus was informed of Russia's decision to impose tariffs starting January 1, the press service said, assuring that Russia was ready to get rid of tariffs as soon as requisite documents were signed. Meanwhile, the Belarusian delegation was called back to Minsk as "Russia's offers practically torpedoed the customs bloc set up by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan" due to be launched July 1, a source in Minsk told Interfax.
"During talks the Belarusian delegation came up against unprecedented pressure, so Belarus was forced to call off its delegation but handed over to Russia the documents necessary to continue talks," the source added. A bitter dispute between Russia and Belarus two years ago in which Minsk angered Moscow by imposing a large customs duty on oil transits led to a three-day cut in Russian oil supplies to the European Union.