BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/06/2009

Belarus puts customs posts on Russia's border as trade dispute escalates

Associated Press

REDKI, BELARUS - Belarus set up customs posts on its border with Russia on Wednesday for the first time in 14 years as a trade dispute between the two countries escalated.

Belarusian customs officials said that as of Wednesday morning all cargo coming from Russia would be subject to new rules, including more stringent inspections. About 30 customs officers were stationed on the border, including at Redki on the main Russia-Belarus highway.

But they took no visible action and trucks passed through freely on their way to Europe.

Belarus opened the customs posts in response to Russia's banning of its dairy products, one of the former Soviet republic's main exports. Exports of dairy products to Russia contribute $1 billion annually to Belarus' $15 billion budget.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Belarusian trade officials returned to Moscow on Wednesday to resume talks with Russian officials on lifting the dairy ban. They had been recalled to the Belarusian capital of Minsk the day before.

Russia cited alleged regulatory problems in imposing the ban earlier this month. But the timing was suspicious, coming just days after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused Russia of trying to wrest control of his nation's milk factories.

Moscow has long been Lukashenko's main ally and sponsor, shielding him from Western criticism and providing loans, cheap energy and a huge market for Belarusian agricultural and industrial products. In 1996, Russia and Belarus signed a union agreement and pledged to move toward a merger into a single state.

Belarus removed its customs posts on its border with Russia in 1995. Russia has 15 posts that mainly function to inspect cargo coming from European Union.

But relations have soured, with officials exchanging unusually harsh words in recent weeks.

Lukashenko has said Russia wants to reduce Belarus to a Russian province. He has refused to make the Russian ruble the two nations' common currency and has resisted Russian attempts to acquire key industrial assets.

But the global financial crisis has weakened Lukashenko's hand, quickly draining Belarus' hard currency reserves. Russia agreed to lend Belarus $2 billion, but talks on the transfer of the final $500 million installment collapsed in acrimony last month.

Source:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/world/ap/48244112.html

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