MOSCOW, Jan 8: Russian oil exports to Germany and Poland through Belarus were stopped on Monday in a dispute spotlighting the European Union’s vulnerability to tension between Russia and its ex-Soviet neighbours.

Belarussian state television quoted sources at Gomeltransneft Druzhba, which operates the Druzhba pipeline, confirming statements from Germany and Poland that transit of Russian oil had halted.

The chief engineer at the state-run company told AFP there had been only a “reduction.”

Moscow said Belarus provoked the disruption by illegally siphoning off Russian oil, but authorities in the ex-Soviet republic said oil was taken as a form of transit payment imposed on January 1 because Moscow had refused to pay.

Belarus' foreign ministry announced that officials were flying to Moscow on Monday for emergency talks.

The dispute between the two neighbours and the fallout further down the export line highlighted the European Union’s dependence on Russia’s vast energy supplies and vulnerability to instability on Russia’s borders.

The European Commission in Brussels said there was no immediate threat to EU oil supplies.

But German Economy Minister Michael Glos said the incident, which coincided with a rise of world oil prices to $57 per barrel, demonstrated that “one-side dependencies must not be allowed to develop.”

Poland's deputy economy minister, Piotr Naimski, even suggested Russia could be artificially “withholding” exports to weaken Belarus in their transit fee dispute.

The oil row follows a New Year’s dispute over a more than doubling of Russian gas prices for Belarus, which was resolved only hours before Moscow was set to cut supplies to the country of 10 million people. In that case there had also been fears of a knock-on effect for western Europe.

The latest spat began when Russia imposed new export taxes on oil sold to Belarus where the heavily state-managed economy relies largely on a refining industry based on Russian-subsidised energy imports.

Belarus retaliated against the January 1 tariff by imposing its own transit fee on Russian oil passing westward.

Russia’s deputy economic development minister, Andrei Sharonov, said that Belarus was “starting to take oil because Russia is not paying the illegally introduced tariff,” Echo of Moscow radio reported.

He warned: “One must not forget that Russia is Belarus' main market and number one economic partner. Because of this, we have the possibility to take adequate measures... and obtain a cancellation of the tariff.” However, Belarus insisted that it was acting legitimately and was not at fault for the energy shortfalls in western Europe.

“Belarus was not at fault for the drop in pressure in the Druzhba pipeline,” foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Popov said. Popov explained that the transit tariff gave Belarus the right to “introduce customs procedure” for oil in its territory.—AFP