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Statement denying Lukashenka’s oil deal claim removed from Russian ministry’s website

A statement issued by the Russian energy ministry on Friday to deny Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s claim that Russia had agreed to supply 23 million tons of crude oil to Belarus in 2013 was deleted from the ministry’s website hours after it was posted.

The ministry could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

“We held talks with Russia and they offered 18.5 million tons while we wanted 23 million tons, but we and the Russians agreed on the supply of 23 million tons of oil,” Mr. Lukashenka said Friday, speaking to students and faculty of Belarusian State University of Informatics and Electronic Engineering in Minsk.

Hours later, the Russian ministry denied Mr. Lukashenka’s remarks as “not true.”

Russia’s offer to supply 18.5 million tons of oil next year remains in force, said the statement.

The ministry noted that oil deliveries in the first quarter of 2013 would be made on the basis of the offered volume. //BelaPAN