Latest Articles about Belarus
LUKASHENKA REDOUBLES OVERTURES TO THE WEST
Addressing a Minsk academic forum on January 26, President Alexander Lukashenka in fact had the European Union in mind for much of his speech, clearly signaling a turnabout from his hitherto exclusive Russian orientation. Lukashenka also made the same points in accompanying remarks to the... MORE
BELARUS WARNS IT MAY CANCEL ITS SUBSIDIES TO RUSSIA
Contrary to the widespread impression, Russian economic subsidies to Belarus have been only one side of a two-way process. Belarus has in effect also been subsidizing Russia for the last decade. The mutual-subsidies system has been the only real dimension to the otherwise virtual “Russia-Belarus... MORE
RUSSIA CHANGES TERMS OF OIL SUPPLY TO BELARUS
On January 12 in Moscow, Prime Ministers Mikhail Fradkov of Russia and Syarhey Sidorski of Belarus inked agreements on oil supplies and transit, eliminating part of Russia’s hidden subsidies to Belarus. By the same token, the agreement seems to preclude actions by Belarus that would... MORE
IS RUSSIA-BELARUS FRIENDSHIP OVER?
On January 12, Belarus and Russia signed an agreement resolving an impasse over oil transit that had led to the closure of the Druzhba pipeline (the main conduit of Russian oil to Europe) for three days. The Belarusian side agreed to pay a tax of... MORE
BELARUS PRESIDENT YIELDS TO RUSSIA ON THE OIL TRANSIT TERMS
On January 10, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka informed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by telephone that Belarus was canceling as of that day the transit tax on Russian oil en route to Europe. Minsk had introduced the oil transit tax on January 1 in response... MORE
OIL SUPPLY CUTOFF TO BELARUS AND EUROPE SHAKES RUSSIA’S REPUTATION FOR RELIABILITY
Conclusive evidence emerged on January 9 that Russia halted oil exports to European Union countries via Belarus during the night of January 7-8. Moscow seeks to force Belarus to accept Russian-imposed terms for oil supplies to Belarus itself as well as for the transit of... MORE
RUSSIA-BELARUS STANDOFF MAY BEGIN AFFECTING OIL TRANSIT TO EUROPE
Deliveries of Russian oil via Belarus to points West suffered several brief interruptions during January 5 through 8, causing a slight decrease in the volumes scheduled for delivery to Poland and Germany. The problem has arisen following Minsk’s introduction of a transit charge for Russian... MORE
BELARUS TRANSIT TAX RETALIATES TO RUSSIAN CUSTOMS TAX ON OIL EXPORTS
Effective January 1, the Russian government introduced an export duty of $181 per ton of crude oil delivered to Belarus. Those deliveries had been duty-free until now. Signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov on December 8, 2006, the decision places oil deliveries to Belarus under... MORE
THE RUSSIA-BELARUS GAS DEAL: LUKASHENKA SUFFERS A DEFEAT
Two minutes before midnight on December 31, Russia's Gazprom and the Belarusian government signed a contract to supply Russian gas to Belarus for the next five years. Had the agreement not been signed, Gazprom had threatened to cut off gas supplies to its smaller neighbor,... MORE
LUKASHENKA OPTS FOR NUCLEAR POWER
Belarus, the Soviet republic most heavily affected by fallout from the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl, has decided to develop its own nuclear power industry. On December 1, Mikhail Myasnikovich, chairman of the National Academy of Sciences, made the announcement at a meeting concerning the... MORE