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Putin demands revision of oil quality control system

The situation with contamination of oil supplied to Belarus has inflicted very serious economic damages and damages to Russia’s image, Putin said

© Yuri Smityuk/TASS

MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/. The Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft should revise the system of oil quality control for main oil pipelines, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at the meeting with Transneft CEO Nikolai Tokarev.

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"Self-control is not sufficient," the head of state said. "It means that this system should be changed," Putin said. "Do this definitely and report to the prime minister," he added.

The situation with contamination of oil supplied to Belarus over the Druzhba oil pipeline has inflicted very serious economic damages and damages to Russia’s image, Putin said.

The cause of contamination was actions of a private company in the Samara Region, which deliberately discharged oil that had not undergone commercial treatment in contravention of all process regulations, Tokarev said. "This is a pure fraud in the given case, contrary to all instructions and regulatory requirements," the top manager added.

"They committed fraud, while economic, material damages and damages to the image are very serious for us!" the president said.

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