BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/06/2009

Belarus, Russia Reach Dairy Deal, Minsk Opens Border

By VOA News

Russia and Belarus say they have reached an agreement ending a crippling Russian ban on the import of Belarusian dairy products into Russia.

A short while after announcement of the deal late Wednesday, Belarus removed customs posts at the Russian border set up to impede the highway transport of Russian goods headed for Europe.

Authorities say deliveries through the Russian-Belarusian border will resume early Thursday.

Belarus had set up the posts after months of rising tensions with its main ally. Most recently, Belarus withdrew from a regional security summit hosted by Moscow to protest the Russian ban on dairy goods.

The Russian ban early this month on Belarusian milk and hundreds of other dairy products came months after Belarus refused to recognize two Georgian pro-Russian breakaway territories as independent countries. Moscow extended such recognition last year to South Ossetia and Abkhazia after a brief war with Georgia.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's recent attempts to develop closer ties with the West further strained bilateral ties.

Source:

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-17-voa53.cfm

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