Russia's Compensation For Belarus Over Druzhba Pipeline Incident Being Discussed - Moscow

Negotiations about Russia's compensation for Belarus over the incident with contaminated Russian oil getting into the Druzha pipeline are underway, and it is, therefore, premature to discuss the details, including the amount of the possible compensation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview with Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th July, 2019) Negotiations about Russia's compensation for Belarus over the incident with contaminated Russian oil getting into the Druzha pipeline are underway, and it is, therefore, premature to discuss the details, including the amount of the possible compensation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview with Sputnik.

"Work on settling the situation with off-grade oil getting into the Druzhba pipeline continues. The Russian Energy Ministry and [Russian state-owned transport monopoly] Transneft are coordinating the efforts of the Russian side.

Compensation is also being studied, so it is premature yet to discuss the details," Karasin said.

Transit of Russian oil to Eastern Europe through the Druzhba pipeline was temporarily halted in late April, after it was discovered that the fuel was contaminated with organic chlorides. Clean oil started being transported in full on July 1.

Investigators suspect that the tainted oil was poured into the pipeline by a group of individuals who wanted to cover up stealing pure oil. Several people are currently being investigated in connection with the case.