Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine"s president-elect...
Belarus announced on Tuesday that it would prioritize the issue of Russian export duties at spring talks on the Customs Union, the paper said.Russia and Belarus were embroiled in a bitter dispute at the start of the year over duty-free oil supplies to Belarus that threatened crude deliveries to Europe.
Russia earlier offered to supply the ex-Soviet republic with some 6.3 million metric tons of oil for domestic consumption duty-free and demanded Minsk pay full import duties on crude it refines and sells on to Europe, dropping considerable subsidies.
Belarus, however, argued that Russia should supply up to 30 million metric tons of oil duty free, saying Russia"s demand ran contrary to the deal on the Customs Union signed between the two countries and Kazakhstan in late 2009.
The dispute was resolved in late January after the parties signed an array of agreements on crude oil deliveries and uninterrupted transits to Europe.