Russia is concerned with the policies of its neighbor Belarus, which sells more petroleum products than it can refine from oil imported from Russia, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Alexander Surikov said on Wednesday.
“The Russian side has drawn attention to the fact that the imports of Belarusian petroleum products into Russia have risen several times compared with 2009 and 2010. This year, imports from Belarus have risen almost four-fold. These are light petroleum products,” Surikov said.
“We drew absolute attention to the fact that they export more petroleum products than they can refine,” the ambassador said.
The Russian side also drew attention to the fact that such notions as “dissolving agents” and “diluters” have appeared in Belarusian customs reports in large amounts “on the western flanks,” the ambassador said.
“They are not subject to customs duties. These issues are now being investigated by the Russian and Belarusian sides to prevent breaches related to the re-export of petroleum products. Such re-exports are possible but you have to pay export customs duties equal to Russian export duties,” the ambassador said.
