Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus does not consider Russian proposal to review the mechanism of charging oil duties, announced by Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov, as official. However, as stressed by Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Yevdochenko, a statement of the Russian side "won't be ignored in Belarus."
According to the representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, at a meeting on October 15 Russia informally made a proposal to abolish oil duty for Belarus with the simultaneous introduction of the Belarusian oil products fees as compensation and their subsequent transfer to the Russian budget, PRIME-TASS.
«This proposal, however, seemed to be a surprise even for the Russian side. From our point of view, it was a kind of impromptu, requiring a very significant improvement,» Andrei Yevdochenko said and added that, disputes around the proposal arose within the Russian delegation itself.
«It’s been said in such a manner that could not be perceived as a formal proposal of the Russian side. There are another channels for formal proposals,» Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus said.
As Telegraf previously reported, the Ministry of Finance of Russia had developed a new mechanism for charging the Belarusian export duties on crude oil and petroleum products. In turn, Economy Minister Nikolai Snopkov said on October 21 that Belarus was taking the conditions of Russia to lift duties on crude oil, on condition of the petroleum products duties return.
