Belarus refuses to ‘integrate’ with Russia until oil issues are resolved
There is no point in working on road maps for Belarus' integration with Russia until the oil issues are resolved, stated the Foreign Minister of Belarus Vladimir Makei, as cited by BelTA.
"Let's first solve the issue with oil supplies, and then we will continue to think," Makei suggested.
Earlier, Russian and Belarusian presidents Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko decided to create an intergovernmental working group on the development of integration. It was planned that 31 roadmaps would have been agreed by the end of 2019.
However, the leaders of Russia and Belarus were unable to sign an agreement on economic integration of the two countries, as they failed to approve the plan of all the developed road maps. At the end of 2019, Minsk and Moscow also failed to agree on oil supplies for 2020. Minsk complained that Russian suppliers demanded $12 mark-ups per ton of oil. Later, the Russian authorities offered to maintain the terms of 2019 oil supplies, as well as compensate Minsk for the lost revenues in 2020 which was caused by the Russian tax maneuver.
At the end of December 2019, Russia and Belarus were unable to reach an agreement on the terms for oil transit. Moscow has stopped deliveries as of January 1, and Minsk temporarily suspended its oil products exports, although this was resumed by mid-January. Lukashenko said that if Russia makes its oil too expensive, Belarus will be forced to look for alternative supplies, including the reverse transit of Saudi or US oil through Poland.
In mid-January, Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Krutoy said that Minsk considers it inexpedient to continue overpaying Russian companies for oil and is looking for suppliers in other countries. It was later learned that Belarus had bought 80,000 tons of oil from Norway, and that Lukashenko had instructed the government to sign a supply contract with Kazakhstan.
In mid-December, Belarusian Finance Ministry Maksim Yermolovich signed an agreement to take an urgent 3.5 billion yuan loan (around $500 million) from the Shanghai branch of the China Development Bank. Previously it was reported that Belarus had requested such a loan from Russia but had failed to reach an agreement.