Belarus

MINSK (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday appointed a new deputy prime minister to oversee the country’s petrochemical industry as a dispute with neighboring Russia over oil supply terms drags on.

Belarus and Russia have been locked in a row over oil supply and flows have slowed to a trickle since Jan. 1, while refineries in Belarus have been operating at 50% of capacity.

MINSK, February 25. /TASS/: Belarus and Russia signed a protocol providing compensations for supplies of contaminated oil over the Druzhba oil pipeline, deputy head of Belneftekhim holding Vladimir Sizov told reporters on Tuesday.

"The protocol was signed that the Russian side is ready to compensate," Sizov said.

MINSK, February 18. / TASS /: President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus will meet with Rosneft's Chief Executive Office Igor Sechin later on Tuesday, according to the country's BelTA news.

The meeting will take place against the backdrop of difficult negotiations between Moscow and Minsk on the terms of oil supplies from Russia to Belarus.

MINSK, February 13. /TASS/: Participants of Wednesday’s eastern Ukraine reconciliation talks in the Belarusian capital of Minsk managed to agree on the first out of three new disengagement areas along the line of contact, the Ukrainian delegation’s spokesperson Darya Olifer said.

"We have practically agreed on one of the disengagement zones in the area of the Gnutovo village, which was earlier proposed by the Ukrainian side," she wrote on her Facebook page. "Work is under way to agree on others."

MINSK, February 9. /TASS/: Moscow and Minsk will continue gas talks in the coming weeks, with minor adjustments in the agreed solutions being possible, Belarusian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Krutoi said on Sunday commenting on the Sochi talks between the two countries’ leaders on February 7.

MINSK, February 4. /TASS/: The chill in relations between Minsk and Washington has come to an end, said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday.

"I wouldn’t say that the Americans are such great friends of ours. However, the period of that chill when we looked at each other through some porthole, [over] a thick concrete wall, is over," the BelTA news agency quotes him as saying.

According to Lukashenko, no one needs to worry about that. "We are mending ties with the greatest empire, the leading country in the world," he pointed out.

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that the United States is willing and able to provide Belarus with 100% of its oil and gas, taking a slap at Russia which recently cut off supplies.

Pompeo is the first secretary of state to visit Belarus in 26 years and arrived in Minsk amid new tensions between Minsk and Moscow over energy. In a meeting with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, Pompeo said he hoped to help provide an opportunity for Belarus to achieve the “sovereignty” and “independence” it seeks.

MINSK, February 1. /TASS/: Belarus is ready to facilitate any format for meetings and negotiations, including formats with participation of the United States, to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said at a briefing after talks with United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who arrived in Minsk on an official visit.

MINSK, February 1. /TASS/: The United States stands ready to supply Belarus in full with the energy resources at competitive prices, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday after his talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei on Saturday.

"Our energy producers stand ready to deliver 100% of the oil you need at competitive prices," Pompeo said.

MINSK, January 19. /TASS/: Latvia has the technical opportunity and the required infrastructure to pump oil through its ports to Belarus, Latvian Minister of Transport Talis Linkaits said on the air with ONT TV Channel.

"We have all the required infrastructure in order to pump oil via Latvia to Belarus and back, in both directions. Such technical opportunity is available; there is simply a need to discuss capabilities," Linkaits said. "I believe our enterprises received offers and are working on how to do this in the best way," the minister said.