Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko anticipates cancellation of the duties levied on exports of Belarusian petroleum products made from Russian crude on January 1, 2014, and says that Minsk will no longer be able to afford its membership in the Customs Union otherwise.

“Putin promised all the exceptions and limitations in trade would be removed on January 1, 2014,” Lukashenko told the Russian media in Minsk on Friday. He said that Belarus was transferring approximately $4 billion in oil export duties to the Russian budget annually.