Chaly: Russia used suspicious schemes to sell oil to Belarus
Independent analyst Syarhei Chaly comments on the new energy war between Belarus and Russia mentioned by "Izvestiya".
Reports of the Russian mass media are mostly political rather than economic, Chaly thinks. The Russian authorities should better deal with the Russian companies that used suspicious schemes to sell oil to Belarus.
“They should ask them about it. Russians are simply looking for something to pick on”.
Belarus is refusing to return the fuel made from Russian oil back to Russia, the Russian Ministry of Energy told the edition. The fuel is being sold to the West under the guise of solvents. Russia is going to compensate for the budget loss of one billion dollars caused by Belarus. According to the previously confirmed plan, Belarus should supply 2.1 million tons of petrol and 3.5 million tons of diesel oil made from Russian oil to the Russian market by the end of 2012. Belarus has fulfilled the plan by only 2%, Russia claims, "Izvestiya" reported.
Belarus will lose millions of dollars because of such supplies. "Belneftekhim" buys Russian oil at a price higher than the internal Russian price and will have to sell oil products at low Russian prices.
