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Russia's customs service responds to Minsk's criticism

When reached by BelaPAN, the Federal Customs Service's press office said that the Russian agency was thoroughly studying the proposals and working to "centralize" control over the movement of crude oil and petroleum products across the Russian border.

The press office said that it was the Central Energy Customs that was responsible for control over the movement of energy resources across the border. It said that the Russian customs authorities were set to "restrict" the number of customs offices where companies may declare crude oil exported to Belarus for processing on a give-and-take basis.

The State Customs Committee of Belarus on Thursday said that it had come up with specific proposals for simplifying the procedure of duty-free deliveries of Russian crude oil to Belarus on a give-and-take basis, but the Russian agency was reluctant to discuss them.