Belarus canceled a customs duty it imposed on Russian oil transiting through the country to Europe, which lied in the heart of a trade dispute over oil between the two countries, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said on Wednesday.

Sidorsky, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency, said he would go to Moscow on Thursday for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov to resolve the issue. "I shall contact my Russian counterpart promptly to ensure we can get down to work as soon as tomorrow," he said.

The duty was imposed after Russia slapped export duties on crude oil supplied to Belarus at the start of the year. Its cancellation of the duty followed an announcement by Belarus that a compromise was found to the row during a telephone conversation between Belarussian and Russian Presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin earlier in the day.

Lukashenko and Putin "came to a compromise, which would help settle all the problems including those connected with Russian oil transit to European states via Belarus," after talking on the telephone, state news agency BelTA reported, citing the presidential press service.

The Kremlin issued a terse statement on the two leaders' telephone talks but did not mention a compromise.

The two presidents discussed "economic cooperation between Russia and Belarus, including in the energy sphere, such as problems related to the transit of Russian crude oil via Belarus," the statement said.

Russia provides about a quarter of the oil and gas consumed in the European Union (EU), some of which is piped through Belarus. Russia stopped pumping oil to the Druzhba pipeline Monday morning after accusing Belarus of siphoning off Russian oil meant for consumers in western Europe.

The oil disruption has affected Poland, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia and raised concerns in the EU although it said the stoppage posed "no immediate risk" to energy supplies in the bloc.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday called the shutting off of the Druzhba pipeline "unacceptable" and urged diversity of energy supplies in Europe.

"It is unacceptable when there are no consultations over such actions. This destroys trust again and again," Merkel said.

Germany, the largest economy in Europe, imports around 100 million tons of crude oil a year and about 20 million tons are supplied via the Druzhba pipeline.

Source: Xinhua