Minsk - A newly-imposed Russian automobile law has left
Belarusian roads leading to its giant northern neighbour jammed with
vehicles for kilometres, the Belapan news agency reported on
Wednesday.
Russian customs officials over the weekend stopped allowing
vehicles registered in Belarus into Russia, unless the owner declared
the car or lorry as a temporary import - a paperwork task often
taking hours.
Belarusian and Russian border authorities in the past had permitted
vehicles from each side to be driven into the other country, without
paperwork and with minimal delay.
The change, affecting all private autos and lorries owned or
operated by a Belarusian citizen, has created near-stationary vehicle
gridlock at all major highways connecting Belarus to Russia,
officials for the Belarusian customs committee said.
Waits of up to a half day are common at the crossing point on the
Moscow-Minsk highway, with similar delays on routes to Kaliningrad
and Smolensk, eyewitnesses said.
The Russian clamp-down came in apparent retaliation against a
Belarusian law obliging operators of most Russian lorries hauling
freight across Belarusian territory to pay the equivalent of 200
dollars, in addition to normal duties.
Minsk began demanding the fee shortly after the New Year. Moscow
accused Belarus of implementing the charge in retaliation for fuel
price increases imposed by Russia in December.
President Aleksander Lukashenko, Belarus' authoritarian leader, in
the wake of the natural gas and oil price increases argued Russia
would lose in a trade battle with Belarus, due to Belarus'
'strategic' location between Russia and energy markets in Europe.
Lukashenko also has threatened the Kremlin with imposition of
rental fees on currently cost-free Russian military bases sited on
Belarusian territory.
Russia and Belarus until recently were close allies, with plans to
unite into a single country, and Belarus enjoying cut-rate prices for
Russian energy in exchange for political support of Russia
internationally.
Russian President Vladimir Putin abandoned that policy, making the
Kremlin's priority maximum income from energy exports, regardless of
who the customer is.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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