Russian oil to Czechs slows after U.S. pact

MOSCOW: Three days after the United States signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to host a tracking radar for an antiballistic missile system that Russia vehemently opposes, the authorities in Prague on Friday said the flow of Russian oil to their country was beginning to dwindle.

The flow of oil can vary for technical reasons, and Czech officials declined to link the reduced supply to the agreement signed Tuesday in Prague, but it was clear that they suspected a connection.


Russia maintains that the antimissile system poses a threat to its own nuclear deterrence; the Bush administration says it is intended to counter the missile threat from Iran.

Under the agreement, the Czech Republic agreed to place a tracking radar on its territory. That prompted Russia’s new leader, Dmitri Medvedev, who is facing one of his first foreign policy trials since becoming president in May, to note dryly that Russia intended to retaliate – without specifying how.

“We are extremely upset by this situation,” Medvedev said at a news conference on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, where he was attending a Group of 8 summit of the leaders of industrialized nations. “We will not be hysterical about this but we will think of retaliatory steps,” he added, without elaborating.

IHT