Lukashenko's demarche brought economic benefits to Russia
Alexander Lukashenko’s promises in response to Moscow’s refusal to provide new discounts on purchasing oil from Americans benefit the Russian budget.
This was stated by Igor Yushkov, an analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, on the PolitWera internet channel, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The expert recalled that Russian oil products were supplied to Belarus duty-free, so the budget did not receive the funds that could be earned from selling oil products abroad.
“For Russia, this situation is perceived backwards. Yes, maybe some of our politicians don’t like this situation, that “look, we are losing Belarus as a buyer.” But we have never had problems selling oil. We have such a problem with gas that we could produce more gas, but we have nowhere to sell it, Europeans are no longer buying it. But we didn’t have such a problem with oil; we always bought as much oil as we produced. We have a problem with production, not with sales.
And in the case when Belarus finds an alternative supplier, it is economically very profitable for Russia, because when they buy oil from us, our companies supply it there duty-free, the companies do not pay duty to the Russian budget. Therefore, it is purely for the budget that it is very beneficial when Belarus finds an alternative supplier, and we send this oil to other markets, because in this case the companies pay an export duty to the Russian budget.
From the point of view of budgetary relations, the more Belarus buys foreign oil, the more profitable it will be for the Russian budget, because these volumes are released, go to third countries and the budget receives more money,” Yushkov said.
Lukashenko's move brought economic benefits to Russia.