Russia will continue supplying Belarus with natural gas and crude oil on preferential terms, said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on June 28 while meeting with the leaders of political groups in the State Duma (lower house of Russia’s federal parliament) at the Novo-Ogaryovo government residence near Moscow.
"We plan to keep supporting the Belarusian economy in the near future with regard to a trend toward reaching the world level of energy prices," RIA Novosti quoted Mr. Putin as saying.
He reportedly noted that Belarus is the only country that enjoys Russia’s preferences and buys Russian gas and oil "at prices lower than the world ones and the lowest prices in the CIS."
"As a result of this policy on our part, Belarus has become one of the largest exporters of petroleum products to the European market," Mr. Putin said. "It is because Belarus receives our oil at cheap rates and, having rather low export duties on petroleum products, sells large amounts of these products on the world’s petrochemical markets, deriving considerable state budget revenues."
"This is not the only form of support of the Belarusian economy," Mr. Putin noted.
