Publication

By raising the gas price for Belarus, buying a major stake in the Belarussian gas pipeline network, imposing export duty on Russian oil deliveries to Belarus, and restricting duty-free import of Belarussian goods to Russia, the Russians have ended an era in relations between the two states. The heart of the "United State of Russia and Belarus" - the customs union - has been made obsolete at a stroke. Russia's economic policy toward its western neighbor is part and parcel of a new foreign policy that - as the Putin era comes to a close - is focusing increasingly on the national interest.