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Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister not to politicize oil quality problem

On April 19, the Belarusian side reported a sharp deterioration of the quality of the Russian oil running through the Gomeltransneft Druzhba main oil pipeline

MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. The quality problem with oil supplied over the Druzhba oil pipeline is technical by nature and should not be politicized, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told reporters on Thursday.

"This is a technical problem. There is no need to politicize it, such things occur from time to time," the official said.

This problem is tackled together with oil consumers, Kozak noted. "A quadripartite meeting will be held tomorrow in Belarus with participation of Russia, Belarus, Poland and Ukraine, where we will solve the issue of pumping out crude remaining in the system, with poor quality, so that to bring it to the standard condition," he added.

On April 19, the Belarusian side reported a sharp deterioration of the quality of the Russian oil running through the Gomeltransneft Druzhba main oil pipeline. According to Belarus’ Belneftekhim, the content of organochloride compounds in oil is dozens of times above the limit value. The contaminant source had been revealed at the Samara-Unecha section of the Druzhba pipeline.

Belarus suspended exports of light oil products to Ukraine, Poland and Baltic countries because of poor quality oil supplied to its refineries. Poland also refused to accept Russian crude at its refineries.