Belarus retaliates for gas price hike, targets Russian truckers

Jan 22, 2007, 14:30 GMT

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.