Russia and Belarus promised today to keep pumping oil to Europe after Minsk slapped a duty on transit shipments of Russian crude in a trade row.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko last night imposed a transit fee of $45 per tonne on crude pumped westwards through the Druzhba ("Friendship") pipeline system.
The move was the latest in an escalating dispute in which Russia has imposed duties on oil sales to Belarus, forced Minsk to pay double for gas imports and banned imports of sugar refined in Belarus.
But, despite trading recriminations, both sides said there would be no disruptions to the two-fifths of Russia's total crude exports that are shipped across Belarus.
Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft said its shipping plan was unaffected.
Belarus trans-shipped 90 million tonnes (1.8 million barrels per day) of Russian oil last year through the main Druzhba line to Poland and Germany, and through a southern spur to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Trade tensions have escalated between Moscow and its former Soviet outposts over the past year, with Ukraine and Georgia both paying dearly for daring to turn to the West after their democratic revolutions.