Belarus removes customs posts on Russia’s border

REDKI, Belarus — Russia and Belarus stepped back from their growing trade dispute Wednesday, as Minsk said it would dismantle new customs posts following Moscow’s agreement to resume dairy imports from its western neighbor.

But a potentially more troubling conflict loomed as Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly said Belarus owed more than $200 million in debts for gas supplies this year, and demanded payment by next week.

Ties between the ex-Soviet republics have worsened in recent weeks, with Russian and Belarusian officials exchanging angry rhetoric.

Belarusian customs officials announced Tuesday that all cargo coming from Russia would be subject to new rules, including more stringent inspections. The move came in response to the Russian ban on Belarusian dairy products — one of its main exports.

About 30 customs officers were stationed on the border Wednesday morning, including at Redki crossing on the main Russia-Belarus highway. But they took no visible action and trucks passed through freely on their way to Europe.

Russia cited alleged regulatory problems in imposing the ban June 6. But the timing was suspicious, coming just days after Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko accused Russia of trying to wrest control of his nation’s milk factories.

Late Wednesday, however, Belarus’ agriculture minister and Russia’s top sanitary official announced a deal to resume Belarusian dairy exports to Russia, as early as Thursday. Those exports contribute $1 billion annually to the Belarusian government’s $15 billion budget.

“We have signed a protocol satisfying both the Belarusian and Russian sides now,” Russian chief epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko said in televised comments.

Shortly after the announcement, the Belarusian customs service said the customs posts would be removed.

Meanwhile, Russia’s giant Gazprom announced that Belarus owes more than $230 million for natural gas supplies in the first five months of the year and gave it until June 23 to repay the debt.

The amount is small compared with the billions that Belarus nets from dairy and agriculture sales to Russia. But it could signal Moscow is preparing to pinch key segments of Belarus’ economy other than agriculture — something it has done in the past.

Belarus’ economy is centrally controlled in Soviet style, and is heavily dependent on cheap Russian oil and gas supplies.

Moscow has long been Lukashenko’s main ally and sponsor, shielding him from Western criticism and providing loans, cheap energy and a huge market for Belarusian agricultural and industrial products.

Belarus removed its customs posts on its border with Russia in 1995. Russia has 15 posts that mainly function to inspect cargo coming from European Union. In 1996, the two former Soviet republics signed a union agreement and pledged to move toward a merger into a single state, but there has been little movement in that direction.

Lukashenko in recent months has accused Russia of trying to reduce Belarus to a Russian province. He has refused to adopt the Russian ruble as the Belarusian currency and resisted Russian attempts to acquire key industrial assets, like the lucrative gas and oil pipeline network.

Last weekend, in response to the dairy ban, an angry Lukashenko boycotted a Moscow-led security summit, snubbing the Kremlin and earning a public rebuke from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The global financial crisis has weakened Lukashenko’s hand, draining Belarus’ hard currency reserves.

Russia agreed to lend Belarus $2 billion, but the transfer of the final $500 million installment has been held up indefinitely. Lukashenko has accused Russia of linking the money to Belarus’ refusal to recognize the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations, which Russia did following its war last summer.

Associated Press Writer Yuras Karmanau contributed to this report from Minsk.