Minsk - Belarus has retaliated against a recent hike by the
Kremlin of natural gas prices by targeting Russian long-distance
lorries, Belarusian news services reported Monday.
Newly-enacted Belarusian law obliges operators of most Russian
lorries hauling freight across Belarusian territory to pay the
equivalent of 200 dollars, in addition to normal duties.
The fee appeared aimed directly at the trade route between
Russian's massive Moscow consumer goods market and the European
Union, which sends most Moscow-destined consumer exports via highways
crossing Belarus.
Belarusian customs officers put the surcharge into effect without
warning, transport industry workers said.
Minsk at the same time changed the legal status of Russian freight
lorries crossing Belarus from member of the Commonwealth of
Independent States, to a foreign-registered vehicle.
The status shift made illegal individual travel by most Russian
lorries on Belarusian roads, without police escort. The practical
effect has been to oblige Russian truckers to cross Belarus within
police-escorted convoys of 90 to 140 vehicles.
Convoys run only two or three times a week, forcing additional
delays on the Russian truckers.
The Belarusian restrictions also apply to vehicles registered in
Kaliningrad, dramatically increasing the price of transportation
between the Russian province and the rest of Russia.
Kaliningrad truckers previously had preferred the Belarus route,
as until this month's changes in transit law, crossing Belarus was
cheaper and quicker than travelling to Russia via the EU-member
Baltic states.
Kaliningrad drivers protested the new Belarusian measures on
Wednesday, by driving their lorries to a checkpoint on the Belarus
border, and blowing their horns for several hours. The protest has
been a daily occurrence since then.
The Minsk moves came three weeks after Moscow doubled the price of
natural gas sold to Belarus. Kremlin hardball negotiating tactics
pressured Belarus into surrendering control of its natural gas pipe
network as part of the deal.
Aleksander Lukashenko, Belarus' authoritarian leader, vowed his
government would not stand quietly in the wake of recent dramatic
hikes in the prices of Russian gas and oil exported to Belarus.
Retaliatory measures threatened by Lukashenko, a former collective
farm boss, include charging rent for Russian military bases on
Belarusian territory, and imposition of transit fees for goods moving
between Russia and the EU.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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