Lukashenko wrote a letter to Medvedev

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko wrote a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he outlined the positions of the Belarusian side on the conditions of supply of Russian oil to the country. This is stated on the website of the President of Belarus, but the text of the letter itself is not published.

The site also notes that back in early December 2009, the presidents of the two countries reached an agreement, that during the first two to three months of 2010, oil will be delivered to Belarus duty-free, and the parties, meanwhile, will coordinate the conditions for further oil supply. "Subsequently, the Russian Federation actually abandoned the developed agreements," the Lukashenko website notes.

The term of the agreement on oil supplies to Belarus has expired at the end of 2009, but the parties have not yet been able to agree on the terms of the new contract. As a result, oil to Belarus in 2010 is supplied without a written agreement.

Belarus wants to preserve previous oil preferential duties, in which only a third of the Russian export tariff paid. Russia agrees to deliver about 6 million for the internal needs of Belarus, but insists on one hundred percent payment for the remaining 14.5 million tons, which are exported after processing at Belarusian refineries.

In 2007, the dispute of Russia and Belarus about the size of export duties and the cost of transit resulted in a stop of export of Russian oil to Europe.