Mass media: Kremlin Recommends Oil Companies Not to Supply to Belarus

Who did get such recommendations?

Major Russian oil companies have received "recommendations" from the Kremlin to temporarily suspend supplies of "black gold" to Belarus, reported naviny.by.

According to Kommersant, "tough stance of all major Russian oil companies and their decision to suspend supplies to Belarus relate to the instructions of the Russian leadership".

According to the newspaper, Moscow "sees no reason to make concessions to Minsk," amid disagreements on some road maps on deeper integration.

"However, Russia also does not want to bring the situation to a full-blown crisis and has allowed Mikhail Gutseriev's companies to supply oil to Belarus. The volumes will be enough for the Belarusian refineries to support the domestic market, but not enough for exports," Kommersant says.

It will be recalled on January 1, Russia suspended oil supplies to Belarus due to the expiration of annual contracts. The new contracts have not been signed yet.

In turn, Belarus suspended exports of petroleum products to prevent fuel shortages in the domestic market.