Russia wants control of its oil exports after halt

MOSCOW – Russia’s trade minister acknowledged Saturday that his country’s reputation as an energy supplier suffered in the dispute with Belarus that disrupted oil exports to Europe, and said Russia must build more alternative export routes.

German Gref, who took part in top-level negotiations that concluded late Friday, said it will take years for Russia to overcome European fears about Moscow’s dependability, which had already been damaged by last year’s price dispute with Ukraine. That dispute resulted in temporary shortages of Russian gas to European customers.

“The (reputation) that we enjoyed has been undermined to some degree, and it must be repaired” said Gref, Russia’s trade and economic development minister. “We must create a system so that supplies depend only on us, not on transit partners.”

Russia on Monday stopped shipping oil to Europe through a major pipeline that crosses Belarus. Russia accused Belarus of siphoning off oil to cover a transit fee it had imposed in response to a duty Russia placed on oil exports to Belarus. Germany, Poland and other European countries saw a disruption in oil supplies as a result.

AP