OREANDA-NEWS. February 25, 2010. Russia has claims to Belarus as part of the Customs Union because of its institutes of special [authorized] importers of fish, tobacco goods and alcohol, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Yevdochenko told reporters late.

The practice of having special exporters and importers needs to be discussed by the three countries and calls for a serious political and economic decision, he said.

The objections are being considered at the level of experts of secretariats of the Customs Union Commission.

Yevdochenko believes some minor disagreements might be settled at the level of experts, where more important decisions will have to be made at the level of directors of departments or deputy ministers and will be submitted to the Customs Union Commission.