Minsk has no intention to take advantage of oil pollution incident and link it to the situation surrounding Russia’s tax maneuver, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.
"It has nothing to do with the tax maneuver," he said, as cited by the BelTA news agency. "An incident occurred. Was it done deliberately and on purpose? Let them [Russians] sort things out for themselves. I am told that our oil refineries are getting clean oil, a portion of the polluted oil was pumped into our storage facilities," Lukashenko added.
He noted that Russia had to take the polluted oil back or Belarus "will find a way to use it." "The story is coming to an end for Belarus but it continues for Europe," the Belarusian president said.
According to Lukashenko, he discussed the oil pollution incident with Russian President Vladimir Putin at their meeting in Beijing.
"He called the government to account and ordered law enforcement agencies to sort the situation out. He even engaged the FSB, which rarely happens. And I must say that [FSB Director Alexander] Bortnikov and his colleagues very quickly identified those responsible for the incident," the Belarusian leader concluded.