MINSK, June 16 (Reuters) - Belarus will impose strict customs controls on main roads to Russia from Wednesday in response to Moscow's trade war against Minsk, the official BelTA news agency quoted Belarussian officials as saying.
The move by Minsk against its main ally follows months of
rising tensions between the two former Soviet republics, who
officially share a customs and passport union.
“The introduction of strict customs controls on movements of
goods is a symmetrical response to the actions of the Russian
side, according to Belarussian Security Council Secretary Yuri
Zhadobin,” Belarus state news agency BelTA reported on Tuesday.
Ties between the former Soviet republics have been strained
since 2007. Minsk is angry at rising prices for Russian gas and
Moscow is riled by Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko’s
overtures to the West.
The dispute intensified earlier this month when Moscow
banned one of Belarus’s key exports, dairy products, on health
grounds.
The spat came to a head on Sunday when Lukashenko snubbed
the Kremlin by pulling out of a security summit. Russia
President Dmitry Medvedev then called for an end to Belarus’s
“hysterics”.
“In line with an order by the head of state, I have ordered
to impose strict controls on goods’ movements on major
Belarussian-Russian roads starting 0900 (0600 GMT) tomorrow
morning,” BelTA quoted Alexander Shpilevsky, the head of
Belarus’s State Customs Service as saying.
(Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Michael Stott and
Sophie Hares)
