Belarus stepped up its dispute over oil duties with Russia, announcing that it has started a customs case against Russia's pipeline operator, the Belarusian state news agency reported.
Russia's trade ministry in turn indicated on Saturday that it could take retaliatory measures against Belarus.
Belarus this week announced it would charge an import duty of US$45 per tonne of Russian oil shipped to Western Europe in pipelines that cross Belarus. The move followed Russia's imposition of an export duty of US$180 a tonne on oil sold to Belarus.
The dispute so far has not affected Russian oil shipments to Europe.
Russia has called the Belarusian duty a violation of a bilateral trade agreement and out of line with international practice, saying duties can be charged only by a country that imports or exports a commodity, not one through which the commodity passes.
But Belarus appeared determined to push the issue. The Customs Service has filed a case against the head of Transneft, the Russian company that owns the pipelines passing through Belarus, for failure to make proper declarations, the state news agency Belta reported on Saturday.
Transneft officials could not be reached for comment late on Saturday on the case, which is to be heard in court today.
The Russian Trade and Economic Development Ministry, meanwhile, summoned the Belarusian ambassador to a meeting where a note calling for immediate cancellation of the duty was delivered, Russian news agencies cited Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Sharonov as saying.
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