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Medvedev urges identification of causes of oil contamination in Druzhba pipeline

He noted that by now part of the spoiled oil is replaced and in the near future will flow to Belarus, to the section of the pipe that goes through the territory of Belarus and to their oil refineries

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev Yekaterina Shtukina/Russian Government Press Office/TASS

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev

© Yekaterina Shtukina/Russian Government Press Office/TASS

YEREVAN, April 30. /TASS/. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev did not rule out criminal liability for those responsible for the contamination of oil supplied from Russia to Belarus via the Druzhba pipeline. He made this statement talking to reporters summing up the results of his visit to Yerevan.

"This is a bad incident that needs to be thoroughly investigated. The investigation is being conducted both by the law enforcement agencies and in terms of technology. This investigation should result in decisions to prosecute the perpetrators and the responsible companies. This may imply administrative liability, may concern economic or civil liability but it may also be a criminal liability," Medvedev said.

The Russian Prime Minister also noted that by now part of the spoiled oil has been replaced with good quality oil and in the near future this oil "will flow to Belarus, to the section of the pipe that goes through the territory of Belarus, and to their oil refineries."

"I hope that this incident will be resolved, although I emphasize once again that this incident is bad, and we need to do everything to prevent anything like this in the future," Medvedev said.

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Dmitry Medvedev Armenia

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