European Forum

Belarus tightens border control with Russia; relations deteriorate

Starting 09:00 local time on June 17th Belarus tightened customs control over cargo traffic on the border with Russia following Presidential instructions in a signal of further deteriorating relations between the two.

The introduction of a stricter control over the movement of goods by Belarus is a symmetrical response to the actions of the Russian side, State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Yuri Zhadobin told reporters.

“Belarus was forced to introduce a tougher control over the movement of goods on the major highways connecting the two countries. This step will be similar to the actions the Russian Federal Customs Service has been taking over many years already,” Yuri Zhadobin said.

He stressed that these measures are just a mirror-like response to the customs supervision exercised by the Russian side.

Chairman of the State Customs Committee (SCC) of Belarus Alexander Shpilevsky said the decision is sound: “for the 15 days in June 2009 the Belarusian customs has seized Br8,620 billion [approx. EUR 2 mln) worth of smuggled goods. In 2008 an estimated million of goods vanished on the way to Kaliningrad,” Alexander Shpilevsky said.

Escalating tensions

The move comes at a time of escalated political tension between previously close allies Belarus and Russia, with the latter introducing a ban on dairy products from the former, damaging its economy. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenko has linked the ban to his reluctance to recognise the independence of Russia’s protectorates Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Referring to it as ‘open discrimination’, he snubbed a Moscow summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) on June 14th.

The sides reportedly reached a compromise in the dairy dispute, but the problem has apparently not been solved. In addition to the introduced border control, a tighter control on beer import has been discussed within Belarus authority structures. According to the Belarus side, it has come to light that approx. 20% of Russian imported beer was done under evasion of taxes.

No border control was present on the Belarus side of the border since 1996 as the neighbouring countries were moving towards establishing a union state. A complete abolishment of customs control was planned for July 1st 2010.

Sources: Charter 97, Belta, Newsru.com, Vesti.ru, Itar-Tass; photo: Itar-Tass